Power has been restored to the majority of Puerto Rico following a significant blackout that left the island in darkness on New Year’s Eve, according to the electric utility in the US territory.
As of 10:00 am local time (1400 GMT), electricity had been restored to over 1.25 million customers, representing 85.6% of those affected, as reported by Luma Energy.
The utility stated that preliminary investigations suggest a fault in an underground cable could have caused the outage, although inquiries are ongoing.
Puerto Rico, a Spanish-speaking archipelago, has been under US control since 1898 and has faced ongoing infrastructure challenges, worsened by catastrophic hurricanes and a significant earthquake in 2020.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico mentioned that he had communicated with US President Joe Biden to seek assistance.
Governor Pierluisi stated he had requested ongoing support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “This is a long and arduous process that requires collaboration between local and federal entities, which is why I asked FEMA to continue facilitating the projects we have initiated,” he conveyed in a social media post.
He also noted that Washington had approved a two-year extension for the utilization of temporary generators, providing 350 MW of energy to the island, extending their operation until 2027.
These generators were installed following the devastation of Hurricane Fiona in 2022.
Earlier, Luma’s director of external affairs, Jose Perez, mentioned that the fault that initiated the power failure triggered a chain reaction that resulted in the widespread blackout.
On Tuesday, Luma indicated that complete restoration of power to all customers could take up to 48 hours.
The blackout occurred as the Caribbean island entered its peak tourist season, with visitors arriving from the snowy US mainland, just hours before New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Criticism of the power grid operators has surfaced.
Ivan Baez, a spokesperson for power generator Genera, stated in a local radio interview that the line believed to be responsible for the failure was operated by LUMA, which subsequently caused the shutdown of Genera’s plants, along with private generators.
LUMA did not respond to specific inquiries regarding their accountability for the power lines.
Ramon Luis Nieves, a lawyer in San Juan and a former senator, expressed that New Year’s Eve is typically a time for family gatherings and watching fireworks.
He stated he was not surprised by the outage, especially in light of Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that impacted the island in 2017.
Mr. Nieves has consistently criticized the management of the power grid.
“This disaster has been more than a decade in the making,” he remarked.
“The (power) generators are outdated, far beyond their life expectancy, and the operators have consistently failed to make necessary investments over the years,” he added.
LUMA asserted that it took over an electrical system that had experienced years of neglect.
This sentiment is prevalent among the residents of the Caribbean island, a US territory whose inhabitants are US citizens but lack voting representation in Congress and cannot participate in presidential elections.
Protesters have demanded that the island’s government terminate its contract with LUMA.
In response to a 2022 protest, LUMA stated that it had “inherited an electrical system that suffered years, in fact decades, of abandonment.”
Jenniffer González, who will assume office as governor of Puerto Rico tomorrow, announced on social media that she is establishing an energy taskforce to tackle the frequent blackouts.
“We cannot continue with an energy system that fails our people so consistently,” she stated.
“Incidents like this morning’s blackout and the uncertainty surrounding a prompt power restoration continue to impact our economy and quality of life,” she concluded.
