On Wednesday, the entire island of Puerto Rico lost power, when toppled power lines caused a complete blackout. The power outage occurred just one week after a tree fell on main power lines in the capital of San Juan, plunging 870,000 people, nearly 40 percent of the population of the island in the dark.
According to the Puerto Rico electric power authority (PREPA), total power outage occurred around 10 a.m. Wednesday and may last up to 36 hours to recover.
Interim Director of REPR’s, Justo gonzález, also announced Wednesday that the Cobra energy, a us private Contractor, is responsible for the darkening, as he hit power lines with a bulldozer. Cobra energy has been contracted to repair the power grid Puerto Rico in the aftermath of hurricane Maria in September of $ 200 million.
Wednesday telephone interview with the new York times, said Gonzalez, that the subcontractor was dismissed because of the incident.
“I’m angry. I give to the people of Puerto Rico my word: we intend to restore for each house,” he said again.
Marla Perez, adjunct Professor at the University of Puerto Rico, told USA today that she works from her home in the municipality of Mayaguez, when the power went out.
“All was silent,” Peres said today the United States.
“My first thought was, here we go again. This is the second Eclipse in less than a week. The service is not reliable,” said Perez.
Cathy kunkel, energy analyst at the Institute for energy economic and financial analysis, argues that this “concern” that “the mesh is very fragile,” with hurricane season once again around the corner.
“All this is very disturbing, obviously, as you approach the next hurricane season. The mesh is so fragile, and they are barely able to receive the light,” Kunkel said today the United States recently. “While PREPA was back on more stable financial footing, it seems that they continue to have serious problems with reliability.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of energy reported that more than 61 000 utility customers are still without power seven months after the hurricane.
Angel Figueroa Jaramillo, the head of the electric company workers Union in Puerto Rico, argues that the Committee consciously restoring services at a slow pace so, the Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo of visitors may justify the privatization of the company.
“In addition to the $2.4 billion that has been spent, we are still paying the consequences,” Jaramillo said in a televised press conference on Wednesday.
“People who come here with business in mind, did all he could, Quote, ‘done,’ and left. It’s all process about how to disassemble the electric on to justify the privatization of the most important in our country.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
