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San Juan, Puerto Rico — A significant power outage struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday, leaving nearly all residents in the dark as preparations commenced for New Year’s Eve celebrations. According to Luma Energy, the firm responsible for the island’s electricity transmission and distribution, over 1.2 million of the 1.47 million customers were affected by the outage.
The cause of this extensive blackout remains unclear, and there is currently no estimated timeline for the restoration of power. Luma Energy officials have not yet provided further details regarding the situation.
In a statement on social media platform X, Luma Energy mentioned that they were coordinating with crews and other companies involved in power generation across Puerto Rico to address the outage. Additional updates were promised as they become available.
A representative from Genera PR, the organization managing power generation in Puerto Rico, could not be reached for immediate comment regarding the issue.
Governor Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico announced via social media that his administration was in communication with both Luma Energy and Genera concerning the extensive blackout, which he attributed to a significant fault in the system. He indicated that efforts are being made to restore electricity and urged both companies to provide quicker solutions, emphasizing the need to restart generating units that are not affected by the fault and to keep the populace informed about their restoration efforts.
However, on Monday night, Josué Colón, the head of Puerto Rico’s electrical energy authority, told Telemundo that restoring power could take several days. This alarmingly long estimate reflects the ongoing challenges Puerto Rico faces concerning its electricity infrastructure.
The island has grappled with recurring power outages, largely a result of a deteriorating power grid that has yet to recover from the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The infrastructure had already been suffering from inadequate maintenance and insufficient investment long before the storm exacerbated its vulnerabilities.
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