Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year’s Eve
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power.
The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on.
“It had to be on the 31st of December!” exclaimed one man, who only gave his name as Manuel, as he stood outside a grocery store in the capital of San Juan, grumbling about the outage that coincided with his birthday. “There is no happiness.”
Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution.
Luma said in a statement that it appears the outage was caused by a failure of an underground power line, saying it is restoring power “in the quickest and safest way possible.” A Luma spokesman told The Associated Press that the incident was under investigation.
The blackout fanned simmering anger against Luma and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power in Puerto Rico, as a growing number of people call for their ouster.
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be sworn in on Jan. 2, has called for the creation of an “energy czar” to review potential Luma contractual breaches while another operator is found.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he was in touch with Luma and Genera PR, adding on X that “we are demanding answers and solutions.”
Puerto Ricans began to plan ahead.
“I’ll go to my balcony. That’s where I’ll sleep,” Raúl Pacheco said with a shrug, as the 63-year-old diabetic sat on a walker nursing an injured foot.
Julio Córdova, a municipal worker, said he got dressed by the light of his cellphone and planned to buy candles.
“This affects me because I had plans. It couldn’t have been yesterday or tomorrow?” he said, shaking his head as he raked leaves.
While blackouts are rare in Puerto Rico, the island struggles with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm in September 2017.
The system, however, was already in decline after years of lack of maintenance and investment.
Only recently did crews start making permanent repairs to Puerto Rico’s power grid following Hurricane Maria. The island continues to depend on generators provided by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to help stabilize the grid.
In November, Puerto Rico’s government asked U.S. officials for permission to keep using more than a dozen portable generators for two additional years.
Some Puerto Ricans took the latest outage in stride.
“They’re part of my everyday life,” said Enid Núñez, 49, who said she ate breakfast before work thanks to a small gas stove she bought for such events.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority struggles to restructure more than $9 billion in debt, the largest of the island’s government agencies.
Puerto Rico plunges into darkness as power outage hits more than 1.3 million customers on New Year's Eve
Puerto Rico suffered the latest in a string of widespread power outages Tuesday that has left 1.3 million customers, some 80% of the entire island, in the dark.
More than 1 million energy customers were without power across the U.S. territory since 5:30 a.m. due to an infrastructure problem at a power plant on the island's southern coast, energy company LUMA said in an update on X.
LUMA said in a statement that the fault appeared to be an underground cable and that it was working with partners to restart the island's power network.
"LUMA will be restoring power to customers in phases. We’ve already begun the process of reenergizing some customers, with the full restoration process taking between 24 and 48 hours as conditions permit," the company said.
Josué Colón, director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, said in a radio interview that a problem with a power line in the south caused a "cascade effect" that led to multiple power plants failing. He said it would take "much of the day" to fix the problem.
Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said on X that he was in touch with LUMA and the private energy company Genera PR.
"We are demanding answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island," he said.
The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport said it was working on electricity generators but that flights were operating normally.
Power outages are a frustratingly frequent occurrence for many Puerto Ricans. A string of blackouts during the summer sparked protests and prompted San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero to declare a state of emergency.
Those protests led to the U.S.-owned Genera PR taking over management of previously state-owned power stations, which are on average 45 years old — twice the age of equivalent facilities on the U.S. mainland — and highly reliant on fossil fuels.
More than 700,000 customers were without power in Puerto Rico in August when Tropical Storm Ernesto hit the island.
Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year's Eve
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power.
The outage hit at dawn, plunging the island into an eerie silence as electrical appliances and air conditioners shut down before those who could afford generators turned them on.
“It had to be on the 31st of December!” exclaimed one man, who only gave his name as Manuel, as he stood outside a grocery store in the capital of San Juan, grumbling about the outage that coincided with his birthday. “There is no happiness.”
Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were left in the dark, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution.
Luma said in a statement that it appears the outage was caused by a failure of an underground power line, saying it is restoring power “in the quickest and safest way possible.” A Luma spokesman told The Associated Press that the incident was under investigation.
The blackout fanned simmering anger against Luma and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power in Puerto Rico, as a growing number of people call for their ouster.
Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be sworn in on Jan. 2, has called for the creation of an “energy czar” to review potential Luma contractual breaches while another operator is found.
Meanwhile, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he was in touch with Luma and Genera PR, adding on X that “we are demanding answers and solutions.”
Puerto Ricans began to plan ahead.
“I'll go to my balcony. That's where I'll sleep,” Raúl Pacheco said with a shrug, as the 63-year-old diabetic sat on a walker nursing an injured foot.
Julio Córdova, a municipal worker, said he got dressed by the light of his cellphone and planned to buy candles.
“This affects me because I had plans. It couldn't have been yesterday or tomorrow?" he said, shaking his head as he raked leaves.
While blackouts are rare in Puerto Rico, the island struggles with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm in September 2017.
The system, however, was already in decline after years of lack of maintenance and investment.
Only recently did crews start making permanent repairs to Puerto Rico’s power grid following Hurricane Maria. The island continues to depend on generators provided by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency to help stabilize the grid.
In November, Puerto Rico’s government asked U.S. officials for permission to keep using more than a dozen portable generators for two additional years.
Some Puerto Ricans took the latest outage in stride.
“They're part of my everyday life,” said Enid Núñez, 49, who said she ate breakfast before work thanks to a small gas stove she bought for such events.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority struggles to restructure more than $9 billion in debt, the largest of the island's government agencies.
Most of Puerto Rico hit by New Year's Eve power outage
San Juan, Puerto Rico — A massive power outage hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year's Eve. More than 1.2 million out of 1.47 million clients were without power, according to Luma Energy, a private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution on the island.
LUMA said in a statement that it would likely take between 24 and 48 hours to restore electricity across the island, "conditions permitting."
"While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line," the company said.
Reuters quoted Ivan Baez, a spokesperson for Puerto Rico's primary energy generator Genera, as saying the failure of the grid was believed to have been caused by a problem with a line operated by LUMA, but that it had also brought down plants belonging to Genera and some other private electricity generators.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in a post on social media that his administration was communicating with both LUMA and Genera "regarding the massive blackout affecting a large part of the Island due to a critical fault."
He said work was underway to restore electrical supply and that the government was "demanding answers and solutions from both LUMA and Genera, who must expedite the restart of the generating units outside the fault area and keep the people duly informed about the measures they are taking to restore service throughout the Island."
Speaking to the Telemundo network late Monday, however, Josué Colón, head of Puerto Rico's electric energy authority, said it could take several days to fully restore service.
Puerto Rico continues to struggle with chronic power outages blamed on a crumbling power grid that was razed by Hurricane Maria, a powerful category 4 storm that struck the island in September 2017. The system was already in decline prior to the storm given years of lack of maintenance and investment.
Puerto Rico's power grid collapses, leaving island in the dark
Dec 31 (Reuters) - Puerto Ricans were without electricity early on New Year's Eve after a grid failure left nearly all of the island without power.
Around 90% of clients were without power at 09:30 (1330 GMT) on Tuesday, according to energy distribution company LUMA Energy's real-time portal.
It will likely take 24 to 48 hours to turn the lights back on, "conditions permitting," LUMA said in a statement.
"While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line," LUMA added.
Ivan Baez, a spokesperson for power generator Genera, called the grid failure a "major incident" in a local radio interview.
He said that the line believed to have failed was operated by LUMA and brought down plants belonging to Genera as well as private generators.
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said in a post on social media that his administration was "demanding answers and solutions" from LUMA and Genera.
He also said that the companies "need to speed up bringing back online the generator units ... and keep the people informed about the measures they're taking to bring service back to the whole island."
Genera's website showed two plants starting up again at 09:30 in the U.S. territory.
Puerto Rico has long dealt with chronic power outages as its infrastructure crumbles. It was hit hard by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, in 2017.
