Power was restored in parts of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday after a countrywide outage hit earlier in the day and brought the country to a standstill, officials said.
Generation units in San Pedro de Macorís and the Quisqueya Power Plant shut down, triggering a domino effect at other transmission and generation plants, according to the Dominican Electricity Transmission Company, a decentralized state agency.
The nationwide blackout disrupted mass transit systems, including aerial cable cars and the metro in the capital, Santo Domingo, where some people were forced to leave the train and begin walking through tunnels alongside the railway.
Many hospitals, banks and other large institutions were relying on generators to cope with the outage, while many homes and small businesses were without power.
Restoration in progress
The national power system was being gradually restored following a failure at 1.23 p.m. local time (1723 UTC) at the San Pedro I substation, which triggered the blackout, the state power company said in a statement, citing Energy and Mines Minister Joel Santos Echavarria.
Some 15% of the system has been restored, according to Energy Minister Joel Santos.
“We currently have over 527 megawatts generating power, representing more than 15% of the national demand, and this number will continue to increase as the stabilization process progresses,” Echavarria said during a press conference held at the Energy Control Center.
“We’ll restore power little by little,” he said, adding that transportation and health were among the high-priority sectors.
What caused the power outage?
Officials have blamed the power grid’s transmission system for the blackout. However, the exact cause is yet to be determined.
Santos said authorities are investigating what caused the outage, noting that “the electrical system is complex and requires in-depth analysis before a final report can be issued.”
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
