Power restored to over 1 million after massive blackout in Puerto Rico

The majority of electrical customers in Puerto Rico have left in the dark earlier this week after a Massive blackout affects more than one million Power was restored to residents on Saturday.

Two units in charge of providing electricity service to 1.5 million electricity customers in Puerto Rico said their teams have been working hard since Wednesday night when a circuit breaker at the Costa Sur power plant, one of the four main factories on the island, caught fire. and forced the remaining power plants to close.

Power has been restored at least 1.3 million customers late Saturday morning, according to Luma Energy, a private Canadian-American company, take over the transmission and distribution of Puerto Rico’s electricity last year.

With about 87% of customers on board, Luma Energy also urged consumers to limit their electricity use to avoid increased energy demand that could hamper the ongoing restoration process at some key power plants. .

Workers from the Puerto Rico Electric Authority, Public company bankruptcy in charge of controlling power generation units, has reconnected at least seven of the decommissioned plants.

On Saturday morning, the authority say on Twitter that it has begun work to reconnect Puerto Rico’s two largest power plants, Costa Sur and EcoEléctrica.

Costa Sur, the largest power plant in Puerto Rico, represents 57% of the island’s natural gas generating capacity. One series of strong earthquakes hitting southern Puerto Rico in 2020 caused significant damage to both Costa Sur and EcoEléctrica.

The massive power outage has angered Puerto Ricans paid almost double as many as customers in the continental United States for Unreliable electricity.

On Friday night, about a hundred people were offended marching protesters in front of Luma Energy’s headquarters. Some even threw eggs into the building and dropped damaged grocery bags after people couldn’t put them in the fridge because of the power outage.

As the roar of generators and the smell of diesel filled Puerto Rico’s air for more than two consecutive days, the local fire department said it had responded to at least 17 fires caused by generators. . Two people injured in fire, NBC’s sister station Telemundo Puerto Rico reported.

Puerto Rico’s electrical system is devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017activated second longest power outage in the world. Emergency repairs were done at the time, but reconstruction and essential work for modernization The island’s ancient power grid has yet to start operating. Power company officials blamed aging, poorly maintained infrastructure for the intermittent blackouts.

The federal government has committed $12 billion in aid to revamp Puerto Rico’s energy sector. According to Luma, part of that money is now being used to replace outdated breakers like the one at the Costa Sur generation plant.

In a news Thursday afternoon conference Outside of the damaged power plant, a Luma Energy official said many of the circuit breakers replaced are more than 40 years old – although the equipment typically has a lifespan of 30 years.

The Puerto Rico Electricity Authority is still in the process of restructuring $9 billion in public debt. largest of any public company in the United States when it declared bankruptcy in 2017.

This is not the first time a power plant fire has caused power outages in Puerto Rico. Last June, a large fire at a substation in San Juan causing 900,000 customers to lose power. Another fire at a power plant in September 2016 caused power outages across the island.

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at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here