Puerto Rico Power Crisis: Luma Energy's Race to Restore Electricity

Luma Energy, Puerto Rico's power company, restored electricity to nearly half of its customers following an island-wide blackout. The failure, the latest in a series after Hurricane Maria, was due to a protection system fault and vegetation issues. Luma aims to restore 90% power in 48 hours.

Puerto Rico's power company, Luma Energy, reported on Thursday that it restored electricity to nearly half of its customers after an extensive blackout swept across the island. Crews are committed to ensuring that 90% of the power is reinstated within 48 hours, according to a company statement.

As of 8:10 a.m. local time, 689,651 customers, representing 47% of its approximately 1.5 million clients, had regained power. The blackout followed several others since significant portions of Puerto Rico's power grid were rebuilt post-Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Luma is investigating the incident's cause, pinpointing a system protection failure and vegetation on a transmission line as contributing factors. Luma, operating the grid since 2021, is a collaboration between Canadian firm ATCO and U.S. company Quanta Services.

(With inputs from agencies.)