Puerto Rico Power Grid Stabilizes After Outages

San Juan: Puerto Rico’s electricity system began stabilizing Tuesday evening after widespread outages left more than 200,000 customers without power earlier in the day.

LUMA Energy confirmed that load shedding caused by generation deficiencies ended by the afternoon, allowing restoration efforts to progress rapidly across affected regions.

Outages Peak Above 200,000 Customers

At the height of the disruption, more than 200,000 subscribers — primarily in the Caguas and Bayamón regions — experienced service interruptions due to limited generation capacity.

According to LUMA’s service portal, outages peaked at 205,778 customers around 3:55 p.m., including a small portion affected by scheduled maintenance.

Rapid Restoration Through Evening

The number of affected customers dropped quickly throughout the afternoon. By 4:00 p.m., outages had decreased to 150,764, with Caguas remaining the most impacted region.

By 5:00 p.m., the total number of customers without power had fallen further to 42,501, still largely concentrated in Caguas and Bayamón.

By 6:00 p.m., fewer than 1,800 customers remained without service, indicating that most of the system had been restored.

Generation Capacity and System Status

Data from Genera PR showed total generation at approximately 2,400 megawatts (MW), with available capacity reaching 2,917 MW and an operational reserve of 555 MW.

These figures suggest improved system balance following earlier deficits that triggered the rolling outages.

Cause of the Blackouts

LUMA stated that the interruptions were due to generation deficiencies, which required temporary load shedding to maintain overall grid stability.

“Load shedding is taking place due to deficiencies in power generation. This means that some customers may experience temporary service interruptions,” the company said earlier in the day.

Although LUMA manages transmission and distribution, it emphasized that it works closely with power generation companies to support system reliability during such events.

The incident highlights ongoing challenges in Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure, where maintaining consistent generation capacity remains critical to avoiding widespread outages.