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The Hill
17-04-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Officials demand answers as crews work to restore power after another Puerto Rico blackout
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Crews scrambled to restore power to Puerto Rico on Thursday after a blackout hit the entire island, affecting the main international airport, hospitals and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began past noon Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and more than 400,000 without water. More than 850,000 customers, or 58%, had power back by Thursday afternoon, while 89% of customers had water restored. Officials expected 90% of customers to have power back within 48 to 72 hours after the outage. 'This is a shame for the people of Puerto Rico that we have a problem of this magnitude,' said Gov. Jenniffer González, who cut her weeklong vacation short and returned to Puerto Rico on Wednesday evening. She said it would take at least three days to have preliminary information on what might have caused the blackout, which snarled traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. 'There's still a long road of recovery,' she said. 'Our system is very fragile.' González warned that the boiler of one power plant was not functioning and would take one week to repair, which could affect generation next week when people return from vacation. It's the second massive blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve. Government under pressure to cancel energy firm contracts 'Why on holidays?' griped José Luis Richardson, who did not have a generator and kept cool by splashing water on himself every couple of hours. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel the contracts with Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, and Genera PR, which oversees generation. González promised to heed those calls. 'That is not under doubt or question,' she said, but added that it's not a quick process. 'It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind.' González said a major outage like the one that occurred Wednesday leads to an estimated $215 million revenue loss daily. Ramón C. Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a nonprofit that represents small- and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time when Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. 'We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure,' he said. Many also were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of Canóvanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta opened a center to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. Wednesday night was difficult for many, including 62-year-old Santos Bones Burgos. 'I spent it on the balcony,' he said, adding that he was trying to get some fresh air. At some point, he fell asleep and recalled waking up at 5 a.m. to a neighbor yelling, 'The power is back!' Among those unable to sleep was Dorca Navarrete, a 50-year-old house cleaner who said it was too hot. 'Last night was horrible,' she said. 'I woke up with a headache.' When she opened her eyes, she saw light and thought it couldn't possibly be the sun at that hour. Then a smile spread across her face when she realized it was from the light she had left on in a room the day before. What caused the blackout? It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years. Officials are looking into whether several breakers failed to open or exploded. González said. Another possibility is that overgrown vegetation affected the grid, which, if true, should not have happened, said Josué Colón, the island's energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority. He noted that the authority flew daily to check on certain lines, something he said Luma should be doing. Colón 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. Pedro Meléndez, a Luma engineer, said an investigation is ongoing. He said in a news conference Thursday that the line where the failure occurred was inspected last week as part of regular air patrols to check on more than 2,500 miles worth of transmission lines across the island. 'No imminent risk was identified,' he said. Daniel Hernández, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017, when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild. The grid already had been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment under the state's Electric Power Authority, which is struggling to restructure $9 billion in debt.
Los Angeles Times
17-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Officials demand answers as crews work to restore power after another Puerto Rico blackout
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Crews scrambled to restore power to Puerto Rico on Thursday after a blackout hit the entire island, affecting the main international airport, hospitals and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began past noon Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and more than 400,000 without water. Power was back on for more than 850,000 customers, or 58%, by Thursday afternoon, and water was restored for 89% of customers. Officials expected 90% of customers to have electricity restored within 48 to 72 hours after the outage. 'This is a shame for the people of Puerto Rico that we have a problem of this magnitude,' said Gov. Jenniffer González, who cut her weeklong vacation short and returned to Puerto Rico on Wednesday evening. She said it would take at least three days to have preliminary information on what might have caused the blackout, which snarled traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. 'There's still a long road of recovery,' she said. 'Our system is very fragile.' González warned that the boiler of one power plant was not functioning and would take one week to repair, which could affect generation next week when people return from vacation. It's the second massive blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve. 'Why on holidays?' griped José Luis Richardson, who did not have a generator and kept cool by splashing water on himself every couple of hours. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel the contracts with Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, and Genera PR, which oversees generation. González promised to heed those calls. 'That is not under doubt or question,' she said, but added that it's not a quick process. 'It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind.' González said a major outage such as the one on Wednesday leads to an estimated $215-million revenue loss daily. Ramón C. Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a nonprofit that represents small- and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time when Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. 'We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure,' he said. Many also were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of Canóvanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta opened a center to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. Wednesday night was difficult for many, including 62-year-old Santos Bones Burgos. 'I spent it on the balcony,' he said, adding that he was trying to get some fresh air. At some point, he fell asleep, he said, and recalled waking up at 5 a.m. to a neighbor yelling, 'The power is back!' Among those unable to sleep was Dorca Navarrete, a 50-year-old house cleaner who said it was too hot. 'Last night was horrible,' she said. 'I woke up with a headache.' When she opened her eyes, she saw light and thought it couldn't possibly be the sun at that hour. Then a smile spread across her face when she realized it was from the light she had left on in a room the day before. It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years. Officials are looking into whether several breakers failed to open or exploded, González said. Another possibility is that overgrown vegetation affected the grid, which, if true, should not have happened, said Josué Colón, the island's energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority. He noted that the authority flew daily to check on certain lines, something he said Luma should be doing. Colón 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. Pedro Meléndez, a Luma engineer, said an investigation is ongoing. He said in a news conference Thursday that the line where the failure occurred was inspected last week as part of regular air patrols to check on more than 2,500 miles worth of transmission lines across the island. 'No imminent risk was identified,' he said. Daniel Hernández, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017, when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild. The grid already had been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment under the state's Electric Power Authority, which is struggling to restructure $9 billion in debt. Coto writes for the Associated Press.
CBS News
17-04-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Much of Puerto Rico still without power after island-wide pre-Easter blackout
San Juan, Puerto Rico — Crews worked early Thursday to restore power to Puerto Rico after a blackout across the entire island that affected the main international airport, several hospitals and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began midday Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and 328,000 without water. As of 6 a.m., some 609,000 customers had service, or 41% of homes and businesses, according to local utility Luma Energy. "Our crews will continue working throughout the day today with the goal of restoring service to 90% of our customers within 48 hours, conditions permitting," the company added. "This is a shame for the people of Puerto Rico that we have a problem of this magnitude," said Gov. Jenniffer González, who cut her weeklong vacation short and returned to Puerto Rico Wednesday evening. The blackout snarled traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. It's the second island-wide blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve . "Why on holidays?" griped José Luis Richardson, who didn't have a generator and kept cool by splashing water on himself every couple of hours. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel the contracts with Luma Energy , which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, and Genera PR, which oversees generation. González promised to heed those calls. "That is not under doubt or question," she said, but added that it's not a quick process. "It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind." González said a major outage like the one that occurred Wednesday leads to an estimated $230 million revenue loss daily. Ramón C. Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a nonprofit that represents small- and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time that Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. "We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure," he said. Many also were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of Canóvanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta opened a center to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years. Daniel Hernández, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. The island's grid has been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild. As the island was just starting to rebuild, it was hit hard again by Hurricane Fiona in 2022 . The island of 3.2 million residents has a more than 40% poverty rate, and not everyone can afford solar panels or generators. While there was a push to use more renewable energy sources under the administration of former President Joe Biden, which provided Puerto Rico with mega generators and other resources, experts worry that won't happen under President Trump.
Sky News
17-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Over half of Puerto Rico still without power after island-wide blackout
Power has been returned to just over 40% of Puerto Rico following an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, the territory's energy distributor has said. The loss of power affected the main international airport, several hospitals and hotels filled with Easter holidaymakers. The blackout also worsened traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown. The outage hit shortly after noon local time (5pm UK time) on Wednesday and left 1.4 million customers without electricity and 328,000 without water. Crews have been working to restore electricity and at least 175,000 customers, or 12%, had power back at the end of Wednesday. Luma Energy, which provides power to the whole of Puerto Rico, said in a post on X that power had been restored for around 609,711 customers - representing 41.5% of its total customer base - as of 7am local time (12pm UK time). Meanwhile, officials expect 90% of customers to have power back within 48 to 72 hours of the outage. The outage marks the second island-wide blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel its contracts with Luma Energy and Genera PR, which oversees the generation of power on the island. Jenniffer Gonzalez, the governor of Puerto Rico, promised to heed those calls. Ms Gonzalez, who cut her holiday short and returned to Puerto Rico following Wednesday's blackout, said: "That is not under doubt or question... It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind." Ms Gonzalez said a major outage like the one that occurred on Wednesday leads to an estimated daily revenue loss of $230m (£174m). Ramon C Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a non-profit organisation that represents small and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time that Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. "We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure," he said. Many were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of the town of Canovanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta municipality opened a centre to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. Daniel Hernandez, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said on Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. Puerto Rico has struggled with chronic outages since September 2017 when Hurricane Maria pummelled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild. The grid had already been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘This is a shame': Officials demand answers after Puerto Rico hit with massive island-wide blackout
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Crews worked early Thursday to restore power to Puerto Rico after a blackout across the entire island that affected the main international airport, several hospitals, and hotels filled with Easter vacationers. The outage that began past noon Wednesday left 1.4 million customers without electricity and 328,000 without water. At least 231,000 customers, or 16%, had power back at the end of the day. Officials expected 90% of customers to have power back within 48 to 72 hours after the outage. 'This is a shame for the people of Puerto Rico that we have a problem of this magnitude,' said Gov. Jenniffer González, who cut her weeklong vacation short and returned to Puerto Rico on Wednesday evening. The blackout snarled traffic, forced hundreds of businesses to close and left those unable to afford generators scrambling to buy ice and candles. It's the second islandwide blackout to hit Puerto Rico in less than four months, with the previous one occurring on New Year's Eve. 'Why on holidays?' griped José Luis Richardson, who did not have a generator and kept cool by splashing water on himself every couple of hours. The roar of generators and smell of fumes filled the air as a growing number of Puerto Ricans renewed calls for the government to cancel the contracts with Luma Energy, which oversees the transmission and distribution of power, and Genera PR, which oversees generation. González promised to heed those calls. 'That is not under doubt or question,' she said, but added that it's not a quick process. 'It is unacceptable that we have failures of this kind.' González said a major outage like the one that occurred Wednesday leads to an estimated $230 million revenue loss daily. Ramón C. Barquín III, president of the United Retail Center, a nonprofit that represents small- and medium-sized businesses, warned that ongoing outages would spook potential investors at a time that Puerto Rico urgently needs economic development. 'We cannot continue to repeat this cycle of blackouts without taking concrete measures to strengthen our energy infrastructure,' he said. Many also were concerned about Puerto Rico's elderly population, with the mayor of Canóvanas deploying brigades to visit the bedridden and those who depend on electronic medical equipment. Meanwhile, the mayor of Vega Alta opened a center to provide power to those with lifesaving medical equipment. It was not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years. Daniel Hernández, vice president of operations at Genera PR, said Wednesday that a disturbance hit the transmission system shortly after noon, a time when the grid is vulnerable because there are few machines regulating frequency at that hour. Puerto Rico has struggled with , since September 2017, when Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm, razing a power grid that crews are still struggling to rebuild. The grid already had been deteriorating as a result of decades of a lack of maintenance and investment. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
