San Juan 6 outage triggers load shedding affecting over 131,000 customers

By THE STAR STAFF

LUMA Energy reported on Tuesday that load shedding measures began following the sudden outage of Genera Puerto Rico’s San Juan 6 unit, an event that left 131,654 customers without power.

“Load shedding is taking place due to the sudden outage of Genera Puerto Rico’s San Juan 6 unit,” LUMA stated on its social media channels. “This means some customers may experience service interruptions overnight.” 

The private operator of the island’s electric power transmission and distribution system noted that, although it does not operate the power plants, it remains in communication with the companies responsible for generation to reduce the impact on customers.

According to the 4:20 p.m. update, the most affected regions were Bayamón, with 43,351 customers without service, and San Juan, with 43,400. They were followed by Ponce with 19,801, Caguas with 13,004, Arecibo with 8,013, and Mayagüez with 3,997. In total, 8.97% of the system’s 1,468,223 customers remained without electricity.

The most recent outage comes on the heels of a recent rash of other reported breakdowns in the island’s power generation fleet, including units San Juan 7, Palo Seco 4, and Costa Sur 5 and 6.