New York – There is currently no specific date for the restoration of power service affected by Hurricane Ernesto in Puerto Rico, as everything will depend on the damage assessment carried out by LUMA Energy and the weather conditions.
This was stated yesterday afternoon by the president of the private company, Juan Saca, when questioned by journalists on the matter.
As of 9:15 a.m. Thursday, some 454,847 customers of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) out of a total of 1,468,223 remained without power due to the impact on the grid of the atmospheric system that became a hurricane shortly before noon when it was located north of the island. However, Ernesto reached the island as a tropical storm.
The above, according to the LUMA service status page, is equivalent to 30.98% of customers.
The most affected region was Mayaguez, in the west, with 119,538 without service, followed by Caguas, in the east, with 115,722 subscribers without electricity. The third region with the most customers without electricity was Carolina (metro area) with 90,509 citizens without service.
Two reconnaissance helicopters are enough
Saca said that although the company only has two of its four reconnaissance helicopters, as a fifth is rented, the number is sufficient to move forward with the restoration work.
“We have already managed to energize four lines…and another 15 have already passed the tests. Those two helicopters that LUMA has, which we returned twice today…these rains and downpours did not allow us to do all the evaluations that we had to do. Those two helicopters, tomorrow we will have a day in which we will be able to advance quickly…it will be enough for us to achieve it with the personnel that we have,” said Saca at the 5 pm conference in which different components of the Puerto Rican government and federal officials participated.
There is no exact date for the complete restoration of the system.
Saca said it would be irresponsible to give an exact date for the restoration of the entire system, given that it would depend on whether it is safe or not to intervene in the lines.
“We are not going to energize anything if we are not sure that those lines are safe, and that is why in Vieques and Culebra, due to the limited damage that has been done, we were already ready to energize, and we are in that process and not a second before for a security issue,” insisted the executive.
Saca added that there are 22 damaged structures, but that they have not identified any catastrophic situation in terms of repairs.
“But the helicopters still had to turn back twice, and we need to continue that work. We are doing two things. We are energizing where it is safe to do so, number 1; and number 2, we are being responsible in making sure that these lines are ready to receive the energy that is going to be transmitted and distributed,” he said.
Today’s work will be assisted by the National Guard, including its helicopters, if necessary.
Asked why the National Guard helicopters were not requested when those from LUMA were unable to complete the mission, Saca responded: “We at LUMA, the 4,500 colleagues I have, get up every morning thinking about how we can improve the quality of life of Puerto Ricans. We care; we are on top of the issue and we want to be fair and reasonable in the information we provide. The conversation with the general was yesterday, and in two minutes we agreed that we would need them. No help is being refused…simply, what I said is that we have the personnel and the helicopters to do the job tomorrow (today).”
For his part, Alejandro González, director of operations at LUMA, explained that, in the phase of evaluation and restoration of service, unstable weather conditions can affect progress.
“We are completing this network, which will give us stability and strength so that when we begin to energize the system it does not fall, it does not go backwards. In the same way that we are lowering this voltage, we will have a voltage of 28,000 volts that will allow us to interconnect the municipalities or the substations and in turn the distribution. Although we work in that order, we are working on all voltage levels…”, he explained.
González was also unable to specify the number of days that the restoration work would take.
“Until we finish the assessments, we cannot predict how long it will take, but I can tell you that many of our customers have begun receiving service, especially in the critical parts areas,” he said.
González said that coordination with Genera, the private company responsible for generating electricity, is key to the process.
“In the energizing phase or strategy, there is one phase that is important and above all it is the issue of safety, both for the staff and our clients, and also with our equipment and property, the company’s assets. That order is a strategic and operational one that requires doing a damage assessment on the transmission lines, which is the first point of delivery that we have with Genera. In order to do that, we need to fly over the lines. That will always take a little more time. But simultaneously, as the governor and our president said, there is already personnel in the field doing another type of damage assessment. There are things that we can correct immediately, and the process requires certifying that the line that operated as a protection is ready to be energized when we receive that delivery of generation. That is a step that we will advance a lot once we have those certifications to the extent that Genera can deliver to us, because we provide the transmission line, we will begin to see a fairly continuous and rapid increase in energization,” he argued.
Other actions taken by LUMA
In a statement sent to El Diario shortly before 4 pm yesterday, LUMA specifies that it activated its Emergency Operations Center and mobilized brigades throughout Puerto Rico to assess the damage caused by the storm. They added that they would begin the restoration process as established in their Emergency Response Plan.
“As of 1:00 p.m., approximately 700,000 customers have been left without service, with the greatest impact in the eastern and central areas of the island. LUMA will focus its restoration efforts on critical facilities, such as hospitals, water stations and treatment plants once assessments are complete and it is safe for crews to respond,” the company detailed in the report.
LUMA also highlighted that the initial focus is on damage assessment.
“We are focused on conducting damage assessments and beginning restoration efforts when conditions allow. We stress to our customers the importance of staying safe and staying away from downed power lines or equipment. Given the continued impact of the storm, our top priority at this time is the safety of the public and our crews. We are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service to all affected customers once the storm passes,” Saca said in the statement.
In addition to power outages, the rains brought by Ernesto caused rivers to overflow and caused flooding in various areas of the island. In addition, more than 300 people took refuge in various spaces provided by local authorities.
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