90% of Puerto Rico plunged into darkness on New Year's Eve

By avagrace // 2025-01-03

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Puerto Rico experienced a widespread power outage on Dec. 31, 2024, leaving over 1.3 million households (nearly 90 percent of the island) without electricity.
The outage was triggered by a failure in an underground power line at the Costa Sur Power Plant, causing a cascading shutdown.
Puerto Rican grid operator LUMA Energy warned full restoration could take days, while officials pledged accountability and federal assistance was offered.
The blackout highlights Puerto Rico’s long-standing energy infrastructure issues, including mismanagement, underinvestment, and reliance on outdated petroleum plants, with renewables accounting for only 7 percent of energy production.
The outage disrupted businesses, tourism and critical services, forcing reliance on generators and exacerbating the island’s economic struggles amid a $9 billion debt crisis in its power authority.
Leaders, including Governor-elect Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon, emphasized the need for immediate reforms, sustainable solutions, and accountability to address the island’s fragile energy grid and prevent future outages.

A sweeping blackout struck Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve, leaving over 90 percent of the commonwealth without power. The outage affected over 1.3 million households in Puerto Rico and is seen as yet another glaring example of the territory's crumbling energy infrastructure and the systemic failures that have plagued it for years. The blackout began at dawn, disrupting daily life and forcing businesses, malls and government agencies to close or operate on limited schedules. Hospitals, water treatment plants and other critical facilities were left scrambling, relying on generators to keep essential services running. While power was restored to approximately 194,000 customers by late afternoon, the majority of the island remained in the dark, with LUMA Energy, the main corporation responsible for electricity transmission and distribution in Puerto Rico, warning that full restoration could take days. (Related: Power outage preparedness: Staying safe and comfortable during a blackout.) The cause of the outage, according to LUMA, was a failure in an underground power line at the Costa Sur Power Plant in Guayanilla, one of the island’s main energy hubs. This single point of failure triggered a cascading effect, shutting down power across the archipelago. While LUMA has pledged to restore power "in the quickest and safest way possible," the incident has reignited frustration and anger among Puerto Ricans, who have endured frequent and prolonged outages for years. Recently-inaugurated Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon called the blackout "unacceptable" and vowed to make stabilizing the energy grid her top priority. She has proposed appointing an "energy czar" to oversee the grid's operations and review potential contractual breaches by LUMA Energy and Genera PR, the companies managing power generation and distribution on the island. Former Gov. Pedro Pierluisi also demanded answers and solutions from the companies, while President Joe Biden was briefed on the situation, and federal Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm offered federal assistance.

Puerto Rico plagued with energy problems for decades

The New Year’s Eve blackout is not an isolated incident but rather a symptom of a much larger problem. Puerto Rico’s energy grid has been in decline for decades, plagued by mismanagement, underinvestment, and neglect. The devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in 2017 exposed the system’s vulnerabilities, and despite billions of dollars in federal aid, the grid remains fragile and unreliable. Approximately 60 percent of the island’s energy is still generated by outdated petroleum power plants, with renewable sources like solar accounting for just seven percent of electricity production. The consequences of this instability are far-reaching. Businesses suffer, tourism is disrupted and daily life becomes a constant struggle for residents. The blackout forced hotels and short-term rentals to rely on generators, while cruise ship passengers were advised to contact tour operators directly. Discover Puerto Rico, the island’s tourism promotion organization, issued warnings to travelers, highlighting the broader economic impact of the outage. Watch this video discussing the last time almost the entirety of the island's power was knocked out back in 2022. This video is from the Evolutionary Energy Arts channel on Brighteon.com.

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Puerto Rico plagued with energy problems for decades

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