The “disturbance” that caused a blackout this afternoon, Monday, and that left over 700,000 customers without electricity service occurred in the transmission and distribution system, which manages LUMA Energysaid the executive director of the Electric Power Authority (EEA), Joshua Columbus.
The engineer reported that they have managed to restore all the generation that was lost, which, initially, was estimated at 1,000 megawatts and that affected units of the San Juan, Palo Seco and Aguirre Power Plants. The event mainly affected the northeastern part of the country.
“We have already restored practically all the generation that was lost due to the disturbance that occurred in the transmission and distribution system. At the moment, we are producing 2,166 megawatts and, at the time of the failure, we were producing between 2,050 and 2,100 megawatts. A large part, if not almost all, of the affected clients must have service”he pointed.
Colón explained that, by abruptly losing customers, the units protected themselves and left the system.
“Something happened outside of them. What happened? We do not have accurate information, LUMA has it… They are hermetic”he pointed.
The executive director of the corporation stated that he does not have enough details to be able to conclude “what happened and where it originates” the disturbance.
“It is not known. What appears is that the disturbance —which could have been in a transmission line or in the Bayamón substation, which lock-outthe system was protected and the entire system was shut down—it affected units in San Juan and Palo Seco”he pointed.
Colón stressed that PREPA engineers and workers prevented “a general blackout” from occurring in the archipelago.
“We managed to stabilize the system and ensure that the Aguirre, Costa Sur, Ecoelectrica and AES units were not lost”he pointed.
LUMA investigates
By 6:00 pm, the power system was almost fully restored. Only 400 subscribers continued without electricity service, related to this event.
LUMA’s spokesperson, Glory Singlehe indicated to The new day that the event affected about 200 substations.
“We have started an investigation to find out what happened. As soon as we have the correct information, we will share it. We hope it’s today.”Single noted.
By 3:30 pm, LUMA had “restored approximately 550MW”.
However, LUMA later argued that They sent “engineers and technical personnel to the key substations to analyze the operation of the transmission lines and determine the cause of the interruption. This analysis may take several days and we will work together with PREPA and the other generators to complete it.”
The governor Peter Pierluisifor its part, preliminarily confirmed that the “main breakdown was in the Bayamón distribution center.”
“The important thing is that the service is restored in a matter of hours, no more than that”affirmed the chief executive to questions from journalists after participating in an activity commemorating the birth of Luis A. Ferré at the Las Mercedes cemetery in Ponce.