Following a massive failure to the power grid in Puerto Rico that left some areas in the dark as they welcomed the New Year, service has now been restored to nearly all impacted customers. LUMA Energy, the Canadian-American company responsible for power lines and transmission towers across the island, reported that about 1.4 million users, or at least 98% of the total, had their service restored by Wednesday morning.
The blackout, which began in the early hours of New Year's Eve, underscored the longstanding issues with Puerto Rico's deteriorating power grid. Governor Pedro Pierluisi confirmed that he had spoken with President Joe Biden and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, who reiterated the federal government's commitment to assisting Puerto Rico in the reconstruction and improvement of the electric system.
Governor-elect Jenniffer González-Colón, set to assume office Thursday, stated that she was working closely with her energy and security team to ensure that power restoration efforts are carried out in a coordinated, safe manner and with a sense of urgency.
While the exact cause of the blackout is still under investigation, LUMA Energy indicated that the initial outage may have been due to an issue with an underground line. Structural issues with both generation and distribution were also identified as contributing factors to the widespread blackout.
Josue Colon, the CEO of the Puerto Rico Power Authority, explained that a breakdown in the transmission and distribution system triggered a series of events that led to all generating units ceasing operation. The Puerto Rico Power Authority, a government-owned corporation overseeing all electricity generation, transmission, and distribution properties on the island, has been working with LUMA since 2021 to manage the power grid.
This recent New Year's Eve outage is just the latest in a series of power system failures in Puerto Rico. In 2017, Hurricane Maria left hundreds of thousands without power for months, and last year, about half of all electric customers on the island experienced power outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Ernesto, according to LUMA Energy.
