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After One Month, Only 18 Percent of Puerto Rico Electricity Restored

That total comes one month after Hurricane Maria made landfall and caused major devastation on the island. 

By Editors of Power Engineering

A new report by the Energy Information Administration indicated electricity has been restored to only 18 percent of Puerto Rico customers.

That total comes one month after Hurricane Maria made landfall and caused major devastation on the island. Though power plants are being prepared to resume operation, Maria destroyed much of the territory’s transmission infrastructure.

Two weeks before Maria, Hurricane Irma caused widespread outages in Puerto Rico, affecting 900,000 customers at its peak. However, by September 19 power had been restored to 96 percent of the territory.

Though two-thirds of Puerto Rico’s generation is based in the southern portion of the island, most of the population is in the north. Petroleum was the leading source of generation on the island at 47 percent, with natural gas following at 34 percent, coal at 17 percent and renewables at two percent.

Right now, recovery efforts are prioritizing facilities such as hospitals, shelters, schools and water pumping stations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans temporary power stability operations to the San Juan metro area by October 25.

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