As hurricane season returns, Puerto Rico’s grid still struggles

The Atlantic’s first named hurricane of the season is here, and it brings with it a reminder of the fragility of Puerto Rico’s storm-ravaged and otherwise neglected power grid. Solar, batteries, and other clean energy strategies have already proven themselves as solutions to the island’s frequent outages, but the Trump administration is making it hard for that progress to continue.

Hurricane Erin is set to sweep by Puerto Rico this weekend, bringing with it high winds and heavy rains. Luckily, it’s not set to make landfall, but the close call could still pose problems for the island’s increasingly fragile power grid.

Even on storm-free days, the island’s grid is hardly a picture of stability, new data from the Energy Information Administration shows. Between 2021 and 2024, utility customers in Puerto Rico have faced an average of 27 hours of outages each year that have nothing to do with major events like hurricanes. Compare that to the mainland U.S., where customers usually face about two hours of interruptions not tied to major events. Puerto Rico’s power disruptions have grown more frequent in recent years, too.

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