Puerto Rico in darkness after a power grid fail

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Tuesday, December 31, 2024 

The island of Puerto Rico fell into darkness on Tuesday morning after a power grid failure that left nearly all of the island without electricity. Around 90% of people were without power at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT), said the energy distribution company Luma Energy's portal. It will likely take around 24 to 48 hours to get the lights back on, "conditions permitting," Luma said.

"While the cause of the outage is under investigation, preliminary findings point to a failure in an underground line," Luma also said. Ivan Baez, a spokesperson for the power generator Genera, said that the grid failure is a "major incident" on a local radio interview.

Map of the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico in CIA World Factbook as of 2024 showing major population centers and islands, Author:CIA

Genera's website showed two electrical plants coming on again at 9:30 a.m. in the U.S. territory. Puerto Rico has had chronic power outages as its infrastructure has fallen apart. It was struck intensely by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm, back in 2017.

The outage left more than 1.3 million people without power. Officials said it could take up to two days to bring back electricity. Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be brought in on January 2, 2025 has said for the job of an “energy czar” to have a potential Luma contractual breach while another provider is found.

Sources

• Ivelisse Rivera and Kylie Madry; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Sharon Singleton. "Puerto Rico's power grid collapses, leaving island in the dark" — Reuters, December 31, 2024
• Dánica Coto. "Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year’s Eve" — AP News, December 31, 2024