Power has been restored to 99.7% of LUMA Energy customers in Puerto Rico, the utility said Sunday, after hundreds of thousands had been in the dark since a fire at a power plant Wednesday evening. Many islanders found themselves in the dark after an uncommonly large winter storm pummeled the Northwest part of the State. Please consider turning off most of your lights and heat so that when we do start restoring power there wont be such a big pull on the system, OPALCO said in its announcement. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Firefighters have since extinguished the flames at the facility outside the town of Guayanilla on the southwest coast. The outage began as an island-wide blackout that closed schools and courts for days and caused other interruptions for the US territorys 3.2 million residents. A fire at a Luma Energy substation in San Juan knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents in Puerto Rico on Thursday. But many customers are seething, including Jos Aquino, a 38-year-old gymnastics instructor who said he and his family have been without power for 14 hours at a time on several occasions this week. Earlier Wednesday, Luma said it was still probing what caused a large fire at a main substation that led to Thursdays outage, adding that the investigation wont be finalized for another four to six weeks. WebUPDATE: San Juan Island and Lopez have lost power now. UPDATE 9 AM: We continue to wait for our mainland supply to be repaired. Beyond the annoyance of a power outage, there can be larger, more dangerous consequences such as a loss of power to the local medical center or fire departments. (787)521-3434. If you are coming to this area, you may wish to inquire about whether your building has a backup generator. (AP Foto/Eduardo Verdugo) Eduardo Verdugo/AP Show More Show Less 7 of 10 Guadalupe Ruiz, de 92 aos, camina en su casa en San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, LUMA said late Saturday that power had been restored to 1.3 million customers and full restoration was possible by Sunday. We are not clear on the exact cause at this time, the company said. Some residents were left without electricity for more than a year. A year later, Hurricane Maria hit, razing the islands frail electrical grid and leaving some customers without power for nearly a year. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Why it matters. Police and fire services went to the scene. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu. https://t.co/VC4LworiiZ #outages. This critical connective part of a powerline could be seen in a video posted to OPALCOs Facebook page, engulfed in a ball of sparks. San Juan, PR 00936-4267. On Dec. 22, freezing temperatures combined with heavy snow caused a mainland electrical feeder serving San Juan County to break, leaving the island without power for roughly 10 hours. The blackout comes as the island is still working to vaccinate its residents against the coronavirus. BREAKING: Much of the Metro area of Puerto Rico, the most populated area of the island, is without power right now after an explosion & fire at a power plant in the San Juan. OPALCO has big goals for more sustainable and reliable island energy, such as harnessing power from tides and establishing more solar panels, but efforts require millions of dollars in grants. Why it matters. By Christine Chung. Officials say outages had affected more than 1 million customers so far this month, not counting those affected by the explosion and fire at the substation in the capital of San Juan. more. Tackling the islands power vulnerability. She said someone nearby cried out: The lights seriously went out?! UPDATE 9 AM: We continue to wait for our mainland supply to be repaired. Comments are welcome as long as they are civil, do not include personal attacks, and pertain to the subject. The wind was so intense that we were having trees 100 feet from the line coming down and falling on top of it. The storms wrath was more intense than had been seen in 50 years, according to another foreman, and left the islands without power for over a week. By using this website, you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices. It's not that Unusual. Pierluisi said both state and federal law enforcement authorities are investigating. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Just two days later, as residents awoke on Christmas Eve morning, they found themselves without power once more thanks to a blown mainland jumper. Decades-long debates surrounding DC,Puerto Rico and Guam statehood have been reignited. The problems have persisted even after a private Canadian-American consortium, Luma, took over electricity transmission and distribution from Puerto Rico's public utility last June with a pledge to reduce the frequency of outages. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with Dnica Coto, a reporter with The Associated Press, about the chronic power outages in Puerto Rico. Part of the impetus for OPALCO to transition to buried cables was due to a number of intense storms in the 1980s and early 1990s according to Cowan. OPALCO was posting regular updates on social media to keep islanders aware of the latest developments. Meanwhile, long lines formed at some gas stations as those with generators sought to refill them. But even before Thursday's blackout, more than 1 million customers lost power just this month alone, not counting those affected by the substation fire, according to The Associated Press. Provider. Many in Puerto Rico had hoped for a quick improvement in service, but clients complain it has gotten even worse in Lumas first few days of operations with problems complicated by heavy rains this week followed by the explosion. April 7, 2022. When it took over transmission and distribution in June, the governor at the time said the company had pledged to reduce power interruptions by 30% and the length of outages by 40%. The outages have been so constant lately that several mayors have declared states of emergency and handed out generators and ice to those most in need, as well as hired private crews to restore power after saying that Luma informed them they lacked enough brigades. Submitted by the San Juan Island School District. When Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, in September 2017, the storm devastated the island's electricity grid. Crews worked to restore power on the San Juan Islands Thursday night as San Juan County dealt with a county-wide power outage, Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) announced. Im working to get more information from @lumaenergypr which hasnt released any details, yet. LUMA Progress; Request a Service; Safety; Another fire at a power plant in September 2016 sparked an island-wide blackout. In a 1989 description of one January storm, an OPALCO foreman from Lopez wrote, Stuff was falling faster than we could get it out. Luma is just 10 days into its new role as the island's power authority. As of 9 p.m., crews were still at work with no estimated restoration time. Wednesdays outage came just hours after Luma warned that services would be interrupted nightly for the next three days given pre-scheduled maintenance at one plant and interruptions in the generation of power run by Puerto Ricos Electric Power Authority. Several witnesses reported that Guaynabo, Carolina, Hato Rey, Old San Juan, Miramar, Ro Piedras, Luquillo, and Las Piedras were among the blackout areas. In addition to power disruptions, the outage also caused interrupted water service to tens of thousands of homes and businesses, said Puerto Rico Gov. The co-op said Bonneville Power Administration and PSE crews repaired the issue at 2 a.m. The outage will begin at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15 and power is expected to be restored by 5 a.m. on Sept.16. A power outage on the mainland knocked out electricity to the entire San Juan County early this morning. Birthday Dinner in Old San Juan - With Oysters on the Menu? Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images. In DCYF's Region 6, which incl. At first, the company said some 190,000 customers had been affected, but it later tweeted that power had been restored to more than 252,700 customers, leaving more 84,000 still without electricity. The vulnerability of the islands power, and its near total reliance on mainland systems, has been a cause for concern to many for years. KIRO 7 News Seattle facebook feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle twitter feed(Opens a new window), KIRO 7 News Seattle youtube feed(Opens a new window), Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) announced, Puyallup teen considered suicide after school beating, Woman loses $29K after being targeted by banking scam with victims in 9 states, Driver killed after car goes off overpass in Georgetown, Entrance to Lynnwood pharmacy destroyed in attempted burglary, Cheerleader performs solo after team quits before state championships. The massive outage began around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday when an unspecified failure led to a fire at the Costa Sur Substation, said Kevin Acevedo, vice It cant be.. Discovery Company. This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. Power was being slowly restored, but nearly 420,000 customers continued to lack electricity as of about 4 p.m. Friday, out of a total of more than 1.4 million customers, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks power interruptions. : Traveling to Puerto Rico got easier. The electricity has been restored to the San Juan Islands. Luma, a private company that took over transmission and distribution of Puerto Ricos Electric Power Authority last year, called it an island-wide power outage. Most recently that vulnerability was shown in two outages in the days leading up to Christmas. No estimated restoration time.UPDATE 3:15am: Crews in Anacortes and on Lopez Island are working to remove fallen trees from the power lines. In a recent email correspondence about the December outages, Krista Bouchey, Assistant Manager of Communications for OPALCO, wrote, We will always be dependent on the mainland as our primary power source. Power outages are a reality, she continued, with no signs of shoring up soon. The outage began around 5 p.m., OPALCO said. Crews are continuing their work to stabilize the grid and reduce the future risk of intermittent power outages, the statement said. The infrastructure is not real good. Marriott San Juan Stellaris vs Laconcha Renaissance. Initially, all customers lost power because all the generating units went offline, according to Josu Coln, the islands lead telecommunications and infrastructure engineer. Emergency repairs have since been made, but reconstruction efforts have yet to start. June 11, 2021 0:31 AM. Customers Tracked. Anyone can read what you share. Its the latest challenge to hit a company that has come under scrutiny amid high expectations that it would briskly solve problems despite having to rely on aging infrastructure and a fragile power grid that has not been strengthened since Hurricane Maria razed it in 2017 as a Category 4 storm, leaving some customers without power for up to a year. There are reports of over 1/2 million out in the region. Both power outages took roughly 10 hours to be fully repaired with nearly half of that time spent waiting for Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and the Bonneville Power Administration, in charge of the majority of western Washingtons power, to reach the downed wires and begin repairs. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) A sudden power failure left more than 337,000 customers in the dark across Puerto Rico late Wednesday, enraging many who "The fire caused major blackouts across the entire island. The utility has long struggled with mismanagement, corruption and aging infrastructure that has not been maintained. The units in the building I am staying in lost power for a few hours Sunday evening and it's out again today, Monday. Did you encounter any technical issues? We don't have an estimated restoration time. The outage was one of the biggest in recent months for the islands crumbling electrical grid, which has seen its periodic blackouts grow worse the last few years. 2023 Cox Media Group. Government officials have urged patience, noting that Luma inherited thousands of outages and only just took over a system running on rickety infrastructure, much of it patched together after Hurricane Maria. A fire at a Luma Energy substation in San Juan knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of residents in Puerto Rico on Thursday. Puerto Rico Swears In A New Governor Who Inherits Multiple Crises, Why It's So Hard To Turn The Lights Back On In Puerto Rico, Nearly A Year After Maria, Puerto Rico Officials Claim Power Is Totally Restored. WebPower went out for the entire San Juan Islands shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, February 21, 2022. An additional outage hit San Juan Island only on the night of Dec. 23, but was due to a localized issue and therefore dealt with directly, and more swiftly, by OPALCO. Roughly 200,000 customers still don't have power, LUMA said. In February 2021, OPALCO brought their new solar array and battery energy storage system online, based on Decatur Island. Public school was canceled again on Friday, but some government agencies required essential personnel to report to work. An estimated 182,000 water and sewer customers around 10 percent were also without water on Thursday as a result of the blackout. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Hundreds in Washington go missing from foster care. Jimnez also noted that Puerto Ricans have complained that when they call the company, they are placed on hold for hours with no response. Soon, a loan was procured through president FDRs Rural Electrification Administration and OPALCO was born. The prior energy provider for the island, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, had its own notorious struggles with blackouts, bankruptcy and overall mismanagement in the wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Puerto Rican flags hang from a balcony in San Juan after a major power outage hit the island Wednesday. 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