A look at why an island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico and what caused it

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico this week, leaving 1.4 million customers without power and more than 400,000 without water.

It was the second massive outage to hit Puerto Rico since New Year’s Eve, when a blackout left 90% of clients without power.

Crews on Thursday scrambled to restore power as a growing number of Puerto Ricans called on the governor to cancel the contracts of two companies that oversee the generation, transmission and distribution of power on the U.S. territory of 3.2 million residents.

At 12:38 p.m. on Wednesday, massive generating plants began to shut down across Puerto Rico after a transmission line failed. Refrigerators stopped humming, air conditioners fell silent and traffic lights went dark.

People started realizing the magnitude of the outage when they began calling friends and family that live on the other side of the island who said that they, too, were without power.

Hundreds of businesses closed, including the biggest mall in the Caribbean. Hospitals and the main international airport began running on generators while dozens of passengers using a rapid transit system that serves the capital, San Juan, were forced to walk on an overpass next to the train’s rails to evacuate.

Incredulous, Puerto Ricans began demanding answers from the government as crews scrambled to find out what happened. “When are we going to do something?” reggaeton superstar Bad Bunny wrote on X, reflecting people’s collective outrage.

Anger grew as people began posting pictures of those affected by the blackout, including one of a woman who had plugged a small machine into the outlet of a grocery store to give herself medical treatment for a lung condition.

Authorities are still investigating the causes of the blackout, which could include whether several breakers failed to open or exploded. González said.

Another possibility is that overgrown vegetation may have affected the grid and caused a transmission line to fail, officials said.

Luma Energy, the company responsible for overseeing transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico, is supposed to do frequent air patrols over certain lines to ensure they remain free of vegetation.

Pedro Meléndez, a Luma engineer, said at a news conference Thursday that the line where the failure occurred was inspected last week as part of regular air patrols to check on more than 2,500 miles of transmission lines across the island.

“No imminent risk was identified,” he said.

Josué Colón, the island’s energy czar and former executive director of Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, said Luma also needs to explain why all the generators shut down after there was a failure in the transmission system, when only one was supposed to go into protective mode.

It will likely take weeks to find a precise reason for the blackout, although Gov. Jenniffer González said on Thursday that she expects to have a very preliminary report within three days.

Officials also warned of potential setbacks. On Thursday afternoon, a power plant failed twice, leaving 200,000 clients without power again.

For decades, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority did not carry out the maintenance and investments the grid required.

It began crumbling over the years, and then on Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit the U.S. territory as a powerful Category 4 storm. It snapped power lines, toppled transmission towers and broke flimsy wooden light posts, leaving some people without power for nearly a year.

In the months that followed, crews focused on emergency repairs. It wasn’t until a couple years after the hurricane that actual reconstruction began.

In June 2021, the Electric Power Authority contracted Luma as it struggled to restructure its more than $9 billion debt, with negotiations still ongoing.

In January 2023, the authority contracted Genera PR to oversee power generation on the island as part of another public-private partnership.

Puerto Rico has been plagued by chronic power outages since Maria, with photographs and videos of transmission lines on fire becoming increasingly common.

González has said that providing consistent energy is a priority and distanced herself from renewable energy goals set by the previous governor. Her administration recently extended the operations of Puerto Rico’s lone coal-fired plant.

Meanwhile, with a poverty rate exceeding 40%, many on the island cannot afford solar panels or generators.

Roughly 117,000 homes and businesses on the island have solar rooftops. Petroleum-fired power plants provide 62% of Puerto Rico’s power, natural gas 24%, coal 8% and renewables 7%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A growing number of Puerto Ricans have demanded that the governor cancel Luma’s contract, and she has pledged to do so.

“People must be fed up with us having such a mediocre system. If it’s not the transmission, it’s the generation,” González said. “Of course there will be consequences.”

However, she noted that canceling the contract and finding a new company takes time.

Officials also previously warned that there would not be sufficient power generation come summer, when demand peaks.

Given that concern, González said the government is seeking to contract a company that can provide more than 800 megawatts of energy in the upcoming months. The request-for-proposal process began on March 25 and ends this month. Sixty companies have submitted proposals.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Generators line the sidewalk of a commercial street in Barrio Obrero as shops try to remain open during a prolonged power outage in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Nurys Perez moves a generator into place to power her beauty salon during a blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

A gas station employee directs traffic as cars line up for fuel during an island-wide blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

A local fills fuel containers at a gas station in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during an island-wide blackout, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

Headlights illuminate cobblestone streets in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, during an island-wide blackout, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)

President Donald Trump President Donald Trump wraps up a Mideast tour in the United Arab Emirates with a breakfast for business leaders and a visit to an interfaith place of worship named for the Abraham Accords he negotiated.

As part of the accords, the UAE and some other countries in the Middle East recognized Israel. Trump departs Abu Dhabi after his visit to the Abrahamic Family House .

During his visit to the region, violence flared in the West Bank, and Gaza. Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people Friday, adding to the more than 120 people who died in recent days.

Here's the latest:

“I think it’s time for us to just do it,” Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi.

Trump reiterated that he wasn’t surprised that Putin skipped a U.S. orchestrated meeting in Turkey between Ukrainian and Russian officials. Putin didn’t want to go because he’s not there, Trump said.

Trump added that a meeting with Putin would happen “as soon as we can set it up.”

“ I would actually leave here and go,” said Trump, who noted his daughter Tiffany just gave birth to her first child. “I do want to see my beautiful grandson.”

Trump says he’s had an “incredible” trip to the Middle East but that “now it’s time to go back home.” He added: “My daughter had a baby and I’m going to go home and see that baby.”

Tiffany Trump gave birth to boy.

“She’s doing great and the baby’s great.”

An Israeli official said Cabinet members are meeting Friday to assess the negotiations in Qatar and to decide on next steps. The official was not authorized to brief media on the meeting and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

At an event to highlight business partnerships between the UAE and US companies, Trump gave himself a big pat on the back.

“I’m just thinking we have a president of the United States doing the selling,” Trump said to business leaders as they walked him through a presentation on investments that are benefitting the American economy. “You think Biden would be doing it? I don’t think so. But I think its so important. I have to be a cheerleader for our country.”

President Donald Trump has arrived at a business forum being held at Qasr al-Watan, a ceremonial palace in Abu Dhabi.

Trump entered and listened to a presentation from Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., as well as officials from Exxon Mobil Corp. and Occidental, two oil firms.

Al-Jaber then presented Trump a memento that included a drop of oil in it.

“This is the highest quality oil there is on the planet,” Trump told those watching.

He then drew laughter when he said: “And they only gave me a drop -- so I’m not thrilled.”

Hostage families called on their government Friday to work with President Trump to release those still held in Gaza.

A statement from the hostages forum, which supports the families said people woke up with “heavy hearts” amid reports of increased attacks across Gaza at the end of Trump’s visit to the Middle East. There were widespread attacks in northern Gaza Friday as Trump was finishing his visit to Gulf States but not Israel.

Israel says about 23 of the hostages are said to be alive.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed earlier in the week to push ahead with a promised escalation of force in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip to pursue his aim of destroying the Hamas militant group, which governs Gaza.

The hostage families called on Netanyahu to “join hands” with Trump’s efforts to release the hostages.

“Missing this historic opportunity for a deal to bring the hostages home would be a resounding failure that will be remembered in infamy forever.

Trump is wrapping up his four-day visit to the Middle East, but he’s keeping a close eye on what’s going on back in Washington.

Before heading out Friday morning to the Qasr Al Watan presidential for the final engagements of his trip, the president took to his Truth Social platform to hammer “Radical Left Sleazebags” after Supreme Court justices on Thursday heard more than two hours of arguments debating how the lower courts should handle Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.

“I hope the Supreme Court doesn’t fall for the games they play,” Trump added. “The people are with us in bigger numbers than ever before.”

President Donald Trump is kicking off the final day of his Middle East trip with a meeting of U.S. and UAE business executives alongside UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Energy, health care, aviation, entertainment and other business leaders will be in attendance to highlight ties between the two countries -- a central focus of Trump’s trip to the region. Trump will then tour the Abrahamic Family House, a complex that houses a church, mosque and synagogue and is a symbol of interfaith tolerance. Trump has encouraged other countries in the region to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel, as the UAE did in 2020. The president will then depart back to Washington.

Israeli strikes killed at least 20 people in Gaza on Friday morning, as U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his Middle East visit.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where they were brought. Survivors said many people were still under the rubble.

The widespread attacks across northern Gaza come as Trump finishes his visit to Gulf states but not Israel.

There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

President Donald Trump will make several stops before taking off on Air Force One to end his Mideast trip on Friday.

He’ll attend a business summit in the morning in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Trump later will visit the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi. It is home to a mosque, a church and a synagogue. The UAE built it after diplomatically recognizing Israel in an agreement known as the Abraham Accords, as Christianity, Islam and Judaism are all known as the Abrahamic faiths.

Etihad Airways announced Friday it would purchase 28 wide-body Boeing aircraft during a visit by President Donald Trump to the United Arab Emirates.

Etihad is the government-owned airline of Abu Dhabi that also flies East-West routes like Emirates, the long-haul carrier in neighboring Dubai.

Etihad said in a statement that the sale included “a mix of Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft, powered by GE engines and supported by a services package.”

Boeing did not immediately acknowledge the deal.

Trump was due to address a business conference in Abu Dhabi on Friday, the last day of his Mideast trip that’s also taken him to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which booked a major Boeing order for its long-haul carrier, Qatar Airways.

Tia Goldenberg contributed from Tel Aviv

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan talk at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrive at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and Sheikh Khaled Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, right, tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)