September Map of the Month

Power Outages in Puerto Rico in September 2022

By Laura Diaz-Villaquiran

Data: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) EAGLE-I Power Outage Dataset 

** Click on the map image to see the time series.**

In recent years, Puerto Rico has struggled with persistent power outages, and as we find ourselves in the middle of hurricane season, the island’s energy challenges—and resiliency solutions—are more pressing than ever. This month’s map features a time series of blackouts in Puerto Rico during 2022, using the most recent data available.  

The data used for this analysis comes from Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s EAGLE-I  power outage data, which focuses on Puerto Rico’s most populous municipalities. The 2022 data shows that the island experienced persistent energy outages throughout the year, with a spike in power loss following Hurricane Fiona’s landfall on September 18th, 2022. Note that the legend in the map does not indicate the number of people affected, it is the number of electric meters, buildings, or facilities without power.  

Puerto Rico has endured devastating natural disasters, including Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, which led to a collapse of the island’s energy grid. After being impacted by both storms, 80% of the grid was destroyed, seriously affecting the island’s energy generation, distribution, and transmission infrastructure. This was considered the “largest blackout in U.S. history” and the world’s “second largest” blackout.  

In 2020, the island experienced a magnitude 6.4 earthquake which caused further disruptions to the energy grid, damaging Costa Sur, the largest power plant. In June of this year, a blackout during a heat wave left over 350,000 customers without power. Puerto Rico’s grid instability is of serious concern as it threatens the health and safety of its residents and puts a strain on critical services.  

According to the EIA, Puerto Rico imports the majority of the energy that it consumes and relies on 94% of fossil fuels to generate most of the island’s electricity. This reliance on imports and non-renewable energy makes it so that Puerto Ricans pay some of the highest energy prices in the U.S. 

Despite the ongoing challenges with Puerto Rico’s power grid, the island’s favorable conditions for solar, wind, and geothermal energy provide promising opportunities for building a more resilient and sustainable energy system. Some of the proposed pathways for leveraging climate resilience, emergency preparedness, and energy security in Puerto Rico include: 

  • Puerto Rico’s Energy Resilience Fund – The U.S. Department of Energy has committed $325 million in funding opportunities to support Puerto Rico’s energy grid modernization and clean energy transformation.  
  • Energy grid transformation – One of the key priorities of the Puerto Rican government’s energy policy is to move toward 100% renewable energy by 2050 and reduce the island’s dependence on fuel imports. This initiative is outlined in Ley 17-2019, also known as the “Ley de Política Pública Energética de Puerto Rico.” 
  • Solar powered microgrids: Solar microgrids and battery storage projects are underway. Microgrids are localized energy generation systems that operate independently from the main power grid and can provide electricity during a grid failure.  

These policy priorities aim to decrease Puerto Rico’s reliance on imported fossil fuels, leverage emergency preparedness, and enhance energy affordability. SEEA is committed to working with Puerto Rico in leveraging local capacity to support these and other efforts to enhance the resilience of the island’s energy infrastructure.