Posted on: Tuesday, February 29, 2000

Short circuit strains Kauai Electric; plantation generator goes down

By Jan TenBruggencate

Advertiser Kauai Bureau

LIHUE, Kauai  Kauai Electric has all its generators operating to compensate for an islandwide power shortage caused by the failure of Lihue Plantations 14-megawatt bagasse-fired power plant.

The generator stopped working Feb. 15 when a short circuit melted circuitry in its stator, the stationary portion of the generator that surrounds the rotor. The plant, which is fueled by the fibrous pulp remaining after juice is extracted from sugar cane stalks, is the islands third-largest power generator.

Loss of the plant has forced Kauai Electric to keep its largest generating plant, a 23.7-megawatt gas turbine, operating without normally scheduled maintenance.

An 8-megawatt diesel power plant that was being overhauled when the Lihue Plantation plant went down has been brought back on line, said Jenny Fujita, Kauai Electrics public information officer.

Until that plant was put back in service, the island was at risk of power shortages from a failure of the largest generator. Kauais afternoon peak power demand has been 65 to 68 megawatts in recent weeks. With all units operating at full capacity, the utility has generating capacity of 96 megawatts.

Kauai Electric manager Denny Polosky said that if generating power falls short, the utility will avoid brownouts by asking its largest customers to conserve power or to switch to emergency generators. Amfac/JMB Kauai, owner of the Lihue sugar company, has called in a Mainland technician to inspect damage to the plant, but has not yet determined when repairs will be completed, said Lyle Tabata, manager of Amfac Sugar Kauai.

They are expected to take several weeks at a minimum. Meanwhile, the plantation is trying to get an antiquated oil-fired generator working at its Lihue factory so it can provide its own power to continue running the mill and processing cane.

The plantation has been buying as much as 4 megawatts of power from Kauai Electric to keep the mill operating after failure of the bagasse plant.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/localnews11.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), March 01, 2000

Answers

Yep, we were living on the edge...of having to fire up our personal generators! This is the second time in less than 6 months that we've been close to the edge.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), March 01, 2000.