windstorm / power outage

[ElysianWort]

There's always some fun in being cut off from Helco. Out come the camping lights and the guitar. Wow those were some gusts today. Some topped 50mph here in HA for sure.

[Justin]

Lots of dead Ohias going down all around here. It's been 18-24 months since ROD killed a bunch of trees, and between them disintegrating slowly over time and the wind from the North, today was the day for them to come down.

[alaskyn66]

Power was out on N. Kulani from 1:00 this afternoon to sometime after dark. Something about trees and powerlines.

[TomK]

The observatories got an email from Helco saying power was going out and we might suspend electronically sensitive operations. Thanks, but this is the same message we get most days when it's windy, there's a little rain in the air or when Mercury goes retrograde or Saturn is conjunct Venus.

All our operations need power, sensitive or not, and the same goes for anyone relying on Helco power, at home or work.

I was in a meeting Tuesday morning with other observatory staff and we quickly discussed power issues. It ended very quickly because we now know Helco won't do a damn thing to resolve problems - they told us so. If they won't fix things for their higher-paying customers, then expect more outages without them listening to you.

The answer? Get off the grid. But not everyone can do that. And Helco will tell you people going off the grid is causing their problems. It's an infinite loop.

[ElysianWort]

Yes down ROD ohias all around here too. I cut most of them down already though and salvaged any good wood for posts.

I heard no mention of repeated winds today.

From now on any new structure I build on my property will be HELCO independent. Solar is getting much more efficient.

[SBH]

“And Helco will tell you people going off the grid is causing their problems.”

Homes off the grid are stand alone and have nothing to do with Helco’s grid. They blame grid tie solar because they send power to the grid during the day and then depend on Helco to provide power to them at night.

Grid tie solar basically uses the Helco grid as their nighttime battery so Helco has to provide more power at night to the grid.

Basically grid tie equals solar power during daylight and oil powered (and geothermal) electricity at night.

[kalakoa]

The answer? Get off the grid.

Perhaps the CSO site could be recommissioned as a solar farm.

[Kapoho Joe]

Maybe one of these years Asplundh(those pirate tree cutters), will actually cut more than 6 inches back from the lines and we'll have an outage free winter.









And maybe it'll snow in Kapoho one day...................

[ElysianWort]

Well if you're ass-plunge, ahem, asplundh, if you only cut the bare minimum, It'll be that much sooner when HELCO calls out for the same job again.

[Kapoho Joe]

Oh yes, job security is always the main priority when the assplunderers are out with their dayglo orange bucket trucks!