In San Juan, Puerto Rico, officials are urging locals to curb their electricity use amidst concerns over limited power generation capabilities, just days following a large-scale power outage affecting the island. Governor Jenniffer Gonzรกlez stated that the administration is awaiting an explanation from Luma Energyโthe private entity responsible for managing Puerto Ricoโs power transmission and distributionโas to the cause of the recent blackout that affected 1.4 million customers and disrupted water services for over 400,000 residents.
To address the situation, Governor Gonzรกlez has announced the formation of two subcommittees: one tasked with auditing Luma Energyโs contract under the guidance of the islandโs energy czar, and another to explore alternatives should Lumaโs contract be terminated. Expressing skepticism, the governor remarked, โThe operator sold itself as an expert,โ but recent events demonstrate that this expertise may be lacking.
Luma Energy, in a communication issued Monday evening, emphasized its dedication to grid reconstruction and fulfilling its contractual obligations. The company highlighted its experienced personnel, which includes former employees from Puerto Ricoโs Electric Power Authority. It now has five days to account for the transmission line failure and provide evidence of compliance with routine inspections, such as flyovers to clear tree branches from line pathways.
A preliminary assessment by Luma attributes the failure to overgrown vegetation, a discovery leading Josuรฉ Colรณn, the islandโs energy czar, to question the effectiveness of the mandated inspections. He warned that protective systems designed to pinpoint and rectify failures did not function as intended, triggering an irreversible cascade event in the transmission network.
Governor Gonzรกlez also declared that Puerto Ricoโs government will conduct its investigation to verify Lumaโs findings and check for inconsistencies. Luma, for its part, stated that its investigation is thorough and pledged to uphold transparency by keeping the public informed of confirmed developments.
The Trump administration, according to Governor Gonzรกlez, has stayed in frequent contact regarding the outage and the Environmental Protection Agency has endorsed the extended use of industrial generators. As of Monday, approximately 20,000 customers were still without electricity, though attributed to different complications.
โThe system is fragile,โ Governor Gonzรกlez acknowledged. She, along with Colรณn and other officials, convened privately earlier in the day to peruse Lumaโs initial findings, formulate future actions, and discuss procuring a company capable of generating an additional 800 megawatts in the upcoming months.
This blackoutโthe second of its kind in less than four monthsโfollows another significant outage late last year. Ever since Hurricane Mariaโs devastation in September 2017, Puerto Rico has been grappling with erratic power supplies. This struggle is exacerbated by the power gridโs longstanding neglect and the ongoing debt restructuring efforts of over $9 billion by the state-run Electric Power Authority.