On New Year’s Eve, the majority of Puerto Rico was reportedly without electricity due to an islandwide disruption, with a complete resolution expected within 24 to 48 hours.
Luma Energy, a Canadian-American consortium that assumed responsibility for the Caribbean island’s electric infrastructure in 2021, reported that the outage commenced at 5:30 a.m.
More than 1.2 million customers, or 83% of the island’s population, were without power as of noon.
Luma disclosed on social media that the cause of the disruption was currently being investigated, and preliminary results indicated that an underground line malfunction was the probable cause.
Luma stated that the estimated time for complete restoration at up to two days is contingent upon the availability of proper conditions.
A request for comment was not promptly responded to by the organization.
The organization declared that it would furnish updates every two hours. The San Juan Municipal Hospital’s service was restored in an 11 a.m. post, and Culebra, a small island that is part of Puerto Rico, had service due to generators from Genera, which administers the U.S. Commonwealth’s power plants.
According to Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, the government is currently in the process of restoring service at the San Juan and Palo Seco facilities and is requesting solutions from both Luma and Genera.
In early 2023, Genera PR, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy, a U.S. natural-gas corporation, commenced a 10-year contract to oversee the power plants of the state-run Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.
Requests for comment were not promptly responded to by Genera and New Fortress.
The primary airport in Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, reported that it was functioning properly as a result of the presence of power generators.
Power outages have been a persistent issue in Puerto Rico and have exacerbated since Hurricane Maria, a fatal 2017 storm that caused the destruction of residences, businesses, and infrastructure, resulting in the loss of approximately 3,000 lives.
The storm also damaged or destroyed approximately 80% of the power grid.
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