Puerto Rico Power Update

Power Grid

It is important to understand that prior to hurricane Maria and Irma that Puerto Rico power plants had high outage rates reported. Hurricane Irma left one million Puerto Ricans without power. The island was still recovering from Irma and Maria hit. This crippled the entire islands infrastructure.

USA Today is reporting as of October 23, 2017 that 5 weeks after the storm 75% of residents are still without power.  The story gives a number of updates on generators and how FEMA has identified 537 sites for emergency power generators you can view the story and a video here.  Power Engineering also is showing similar numbers with an official US Energy Information Administration announcement that only 18 % of Puerto Rico electricity has been restored.

The islands electric company PREPA has not had funds to update and modernize the grid. Approximately 80% of the island’s transmission lines we devastated, Business Insider reports. San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz says it could take up to six months to revive the electric grid. 

Few Have Power Restored

Puerto Rico is in a “dire situation for many seeking medical care” reports Mayor Carmen. The number of customers receiving power from the islands grid has declined. Latest Department of Energy reports indicate that 15% of the islands customers that were receiving power has reduced to 13.7%. CNN has an interesting page that shows before and after satellite imagery of the energy grid here.

Puerto Rico Governor said that he hopes to have 95% of all power restored by December. This goal depends on the extent of infrastructure damage and challenging terrain. All sides, including Whitefish Energy Holdings, have given the following reasons for slow progression:
1.    To repair a grid into good working condition, a strong existing grid must exist. When parts of a grid break down it adds stress on existing systems.
2.    Bad weather in recent weeks delays progress.
3.    High outage rates prior to hurricane Irma and Maria.
 

Generators and Fuel

Much of the island is utilizing generators. United States Army Corps of Engineers has set up dozens of large generators and is receiving shipments. Generators are used to power everything from homes to local services (police departments, hospitals etc.).

Stores report of up to 200 generator sales per day. FEMA awarded a 240 million contract to help rebuild the islands infrastructure. It is expected to be a long process.  Whitefish Energy has 200 linesmen on the island and would like to grow workforce to 1000. Amount of equipment, housing, road access and logistics are holding up the addition of workers.

Fuel shortages are not an issue. Getting the fuel from suppliers, such as Puma Energy to the individual stations is an issue. Diesel fuel is delivered to hospitals and government buildings first. This means long lines at gasoline pumps and stations for most residents and small business owners. Roads and infrastructure that was damaged is making it difficult for the complete supply line to effectively operate but many are still finding ways to get what they need.  For additional info see this Fox 4 Update.
 

Shipping Generators to Puerto Rico

The team here has been working very hard to expedite orders and ship numerous truckloads of generators to customers in the area. Last Friday alone, we sent 4 full truck loads (like the image here) of various sizes and brands of industrial generator sets and in total have now shipped over 100 generators to Puerto Rico.

We continue to work closely with freight operators. These operators have vessels scheduled on a daily basis. Our generators are tested and can be ready to ship in 24 hours (rule of thumb). With 35 years’ experience of buying, selling and shipping generators, we constantly replenish our inventory.

If you are working with (or for) someone in an impacted area and require an industrial or commercial sized diesel generator be sure to visit our up to date Generator Inventory page to see in-stock units or call us today at 800-853-2073.



 

 

 

Diesel Admin | 10/24/2017 10:00:02 AM | 0 comments