A look at why an island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico and what caused it
When did the blackout occur?
At 12:38 p.m. on Wednesday, massive generating plants began to shut down across Puerto Rico after a transmission line failed.
Refrigerators stopped humming, air conditioners fell silent and traffic lights went dark.
People started realizing the magnitude of the outage when they began calling friends and family that live on the other side of the island who said that they, too, were without power.
Hundreds of businesses closed, including the biggest mall in the Caribbean. Hospitals and the main international airport began running on generators while dozens of passengers using a rapid transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, were forced to walk on an overpass next to the train's rails to evacuate.
Advertisement
Incredulous, Puerto Ricans began demanding answers from the government as crews scrambled to find out what happened.
'When are we going to do something?' reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny wrote on X, reflecting people's collective rage.
Anger grew as people began posting pictures of those affected by the blackout, including one of a woman who had plugged a small machine into the outlet of a grocery store to give herself medical treatment for a lung condition.
Advertisement
Why did it occur?
Authorities are still investigating the causes of the blackout. One possibility is that overgrown vegetation may have affected the grid and caused a transmission line to fail, officials said.
Luma Energy, the company responsible for overseeing transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico, is supposed to do frequent air patrols over certain lines to ensure they remain free of vegetation.
Pedro Meléndez, a Luma engineer, said in a news conference Thursday that he did not immediately have details on when the company last did an air patrol, but added that those occur with the frequency established in its contract.
Josué Colón, the island's energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority, said Luma also needs to explain why all the generators shut down after there was a failure in the transmission system, when only one was supposed to go into protective mode.
It'll likely take weeks to find a precise reason for the blackout, although Gov. Jenniffer González said Thursday that she expects to have a very preliminary report within three days.
Why is Puerto Rico's power grid in such bad shape?
For decades, Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority did not give the grid the maintenance and investment it required.
It began crumbling throughout the years, and then on Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory as a powerful Category 4 storm. It snapped power lines, toppled transmission towers and broke flimsy wooden light posts, leaving some people nearly a year without power.
In the months that followed, crews focused on emergency repairs. It wasn't until a couple years after the hurricane that actual reconstruction began.
Advertisement
In June 2021, the Electric Power Authority contracted Luma as it struggled to restructure its more than $9 billion debt, with negotiations still ongoing.
In January 2023, the authority contracted Genera PR to oversee the generation of power on the island as part of another public-private partnership.
Puerto Rico has been plagued by chronic power outages since Maria, with pictures and videos of transmission lines on fire becoming increasingly common.
González has said that providing consistent energy is a priority and distanced herself from renewable energy goals set by the previous governor.
Her administration recently extended the operations of Puerto Rico's lone coal-fired plant.
Meanwhile, with a poverty rate exceeding 40%, many on the island cannot afford solar panels or generators.
Roughly 117,000 homes and businesses on the island have solar rooftops. Petroleum-fired power plants provide 62% of Puerto Rico's power, natural gas 24%, coal 8% and renewables 7%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
What are officials doing to improve the grid?
A growing number of Puerto Ricans have demanded that the governor cancel Luma's contract, and she has pledged to do so.
'People must be fed up with us having such a mediocre system. If it's not the transmission, it's the generation,' González said. 'Of course there will be consequences.'
However, she noted that canceling the contract and finding a new company takes time.
Officials also previously warned that there would not be sufficient generation come summer, when demand peaks.
Given that concern, González said the government is seeking to contract a company that can provide more than 800 megawatts of energy in the upcoming months. The request-for-proposal process began on March 25 and ends this month. Sixty companies have submitted proposals.
Advertisement
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Queens great-grandma beaten by unhinged woman on NYC subway train can't shake feeling attacker is still ‘behind' her: ‘I heard ‘bop!'
A great-grandmother from Queens who was badly beaten by an unhinged woman in a Midtown subway station last month is frightened to ride the rails after the harrowing unprovoked beating, she told The Post. Aurore Gonzalez, 73 — who was allegedly pummeled by Marie McWilliams, 36, May 1 — said she can't shake the terrifying feeling that her attacker is still right 'behind' her. 'She hit me as I was stepping off the train and I heard 'bop!'' she told The Post Tuesday, the same day McWilliams was arrested for assault. 'Then I started falling backwards and sliding, and I fell into homeless person's belongings covered in feces,' she said. Weeks after the nightmarish ordeal, Gonzalez said she still suffers from sleeplessness and anxiety. 'I still take the subway and I look around now,' said Gonzalez, who has five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. '[I'm] looking behind my head all the time. I'm looking for her.' Gonzalez was riding the Manhattan-bound E train to her job cleaning law offices at around 4:30 p.m when she allegedly heard McWilliams jabbering racist comments to herself. 'She was just talking loud to herself about Puerto Ricans and blacks and saying that they're no good and that they shouldn't be here!' said Gonzalez. Gonzalez, who is Hispanic, said she turned around and asked the erratic straphanger, 'Are you talking to me?!' McWilliams 'didn't say anything' but followed her as she stepped off the train at the Fifth Avenue-53rd Street station — and then she pounced, repeatedly punching her, she said. 'When I was stepping off the train she hit me in the back of the head,' she said. 'She grabbed my bun…and she started scratching me with a blade on my face,' said Gonzalez, who still had two black eyes from the assault Tuesday. 'I [was] bleeding and I fell into a homeless person's crap and I had to go to my job,' she said. Gonzalez said she now suffers from kidney trouble due to the fall, along with scarring near her eye and migraine headaches. 'This just isn't right. I'm in pain. I have to be on painkillers,' said Gonzalez. 'I couldn't sleep for two weeks. The anxiety, I couldn't eat. At night on my job I would just cry,' said Gonzalez. Asked about her attacker's arrest, Gonzalez said she's 'relieved.' 'I am so happy to hear this. I will testify! She should not have done that. She should keep her hands to herself!' Gonzalez said. 'Have some respect for older people!' McWilliams was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday and granted supervised release by Judge Marva Brown over prosecutors' request for $10,000 cash bail or $30,000 bond.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Puerto Rican coquí frogs are loud. Islanders want to keep it that way.
For many Puerto Ricans, the nightly chirping of 'coh-KEE' — the sound of a tiny frog known as the coquí — is like a national lullaby. But for one purported tourist, the noise felt more like a nightmare, according to a now-deleted Reddit post from May on the Puerto Rico Travel thread. The post, titled 'Spray to keep the noisy frogs quiet?' alarmed residents and lovers of the amphibian. In the last month, dozens have voiced their concerns across social media about their fears that visitors to the island appear to want to silence the creature. On TikTok, videos pleading to leave the coquís alone have millions of views. Some users have urged people not to come to Puerto Rico if they don't like the sound of the coquÍs. Others have joined in the chorus of voices calling on people to protect coquís from possible harm. Alejandro Ríos-Franceschi, an associate professor of ecology, biodiversity and evolution at the University of Puerto Rico, Ponce Campus, said that before the social media post, he had never heard of people in Puerto Rico attempting to kill coquís. Puerto Rican environmental officials have not weighed in on the online uproar. However, Ríos-Franceschi isn't surprised by the fears expressed by many locals and environmental enthusiasts online, given how beloved the frog is. On the island, many Puerto Ricans are taught from a young age to care for and appreciate them. 'The coquÍ is not noise — it's a living soundtrack of the Puerto Rican identity,' Ríos-Franceschi said. There are 17 species of coquís, most of which are endemic to Puerto Rico, according to Ríos-Franceschi. The creatures are tiny, muddy and brown. Males are known for making 'co' sounds to dissuade other males, while the 'qui' sound is meant to attract females. As a U.S. territory, Puerto Rico is subject to the rules and laws of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which means anyone who harms a coquÍ could face serious legal trouble. As of 2017, some coquÍs were listed as endangered. But the common coquÍ, which makes the iconic sound, are not endangered. The frog is also an invasive species in Hawaii, Ríos-Franceschi said. In 2003, The Associated Press reported that state and federal officials were trying to eradicate the Oahu coquÍ frog population, citing the need to control them. The superstar rapper and singer Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, has even posted about the creature. Last week, he appeared to allude to the ongoing discussion about them by sharing an Instagram story featuring their croaking in the background of a clipped version of his song 'Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,' which translates to 'What Happened to Hawaii.' Ríos-Franceschi, who is also a research director for the nonprofit conservation group Proyecto Coqui, said if tourists are actually coming to Puerto Rico and trying to spray the coquí with chemicals, it could enter the groundwater and spread to other creatures, possibly disrupting the entire ecosystem of the island. To Puerto Ricans, the sound of the frogs, Ríos-Franceschi said, is "melody for our ears, but I can understand that for tourists that are not used to it, it can be bothering.' 'But that doesn't mean that when tourists come here, they have the right to kill them just because they're annoying.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie's Twins, Vivienne And Knox, Are Their Parents' Mini-Mes On Rare LA Outing
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's twins, Vivienne and Knox Jolie-Pitt, made a rare appearance recently, which highlighted their strong resemblance to their famous parents. The duo was spotted in Los Angeles dressed casually as they visited a grocery store to pick up a few items. Besides the soon-to-be 17-year-old twins, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie share four other children, including Shiloh, 19, and their adopted siblings Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, and Zahara, 20. Jolie and Pitt's twins, Vivienne and Knox, were recently spotted in public, and people couldn't help but notice how much they resemble their famous parents. Knox looked much like the younger version of his father, with his low haircut that looked similar to the one Pitt had when he starred with Jolie in the action comedy "Mr. & Mrs. Smith." Meanwhile, Vivienne looked like the spitting image of her mother, wearing her hair loose, with some strands tucked behind her ears, just like the actress had been seen doing many times. For the outing, the duo dressed casually, wearing complementing outfits that consisted of a white polo, denims, and sneakers. They visited their local grocery, and Knox was seen carrying out a shopping bag as they made their way out of the location. From all indications, it appeared that they were unaccompanied by their mother on the casual outing. Earlier this year, the twins showed their humanitarian side by joining their mother to help close friends who were affected by the devastating fires that swept through parts of Los Angeles. The trio was spotted making multiple visits to their local grocery store in Los Feliz to pick up items needed to care for some of their loved ones who were staying at their home. "Right now I'm taking care of people close to me and having them at my house," she told the Daily Mail at the time during one of their grocery runs. A source also confirmed to People Magazine that the actress was "heartbroken for those who have lost their homes or are impacted by the fires." "She's doing everything she can to help, even opening her home to friends who were forced to evacuate," they continued. Knox and Vivienne are the youngest of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's six children. Their siblings include their older biological sister Shiloh, 19, and adopted siblings Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, and Zahara, 20. As for why the twins are rarely seen in public, Jolie explained in a promotional interview last year for her film "Maria" that all of her kids prefer to live "quite private" lives. "None of my children want to be in front of the camera [at] this time," Jolie said during an appearance on "Good Morning America," per People. "They're quite private." "Shiloh's extremely private," the actress noted, before adding, "They weren't born with privacy, right? So, I hope that they can have that as they grow old. So we'll see." That same year, she made a similar statement to E! News when asked if her kids intended to pursue a career in acting. "No, I think they're especially shy, very private people," she told the outlet. "They want to be private." While Jolie seems to have a strong relationship with her children, things appear to be different with Pitt. Last year, People confirmed that his bond with his older children remains strained, and he has had "virtually no contact" with them for a long time. Meanwhile, he still has "visitation" rights with the younger kids, twins Vivienne and Knox, although Jolie has the children "most of the time." Yet, his relationship with the twins may not be very strong either. Multiple reports last year noted that Vivienne dropped the last name "Pitt" from her credit in The Outsiders Playbill. However, it has yet to be confirmed whether she has legally changed her name. After nearly a decade-long legal war, Pitt and Jolie finally reached a settlement in their divorce in December last year. The Hollywood stars first met while filming "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" in 2003 and subsequently started dating before getting married in August 2014. However, shortly after their second wedding anniversary and an alleged private jet abuse incident, the "Maleficent" actress filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as the cause of their split. Following their divorce settlement, Jolie's lawyer, James Simon, revealed that the actress is "relieved this one part is over." "Frankly, Angelina is exhausted," Simon told the Daily Mail. "More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr Pitt, and since that time, she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family."
