dominican Republic Plunged into Widespread Blackout, Restoration Efforts Underway
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A massive power outage has paralyzed much of the Dominican Republic, impacting the nation’s nearly 11 million residents and disrupting essential services. The blackout began Tuesday, leaving homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure without electricity.
The cause of the outage remains under inquiry, but officials have identified a failure in the country’s transmission system as the initial trigger. Generation units in San Pedro de Macorís and the Quisqueya Power Plant went offline,initiating a cascade of failures across other power plants and transmission lines,according to the Dominican Electricity Transmission Company. The Dominican Republic relies heavily on oil and its products for energy, followed by coal, natural gas, and smaller contributions from solar, wind, and hydroelectric sources.
As of Tuesday night, approximately 15% of the power system had been restored, according to Energy Minister Joel Santos.”We’ll restore power little by little,” Santos stated, prioritizing sectors like transportation and healthcare. Authorities are working to determine the root cause of the failure, acknowledging the complexity of the electrical system and the need for a thorough analysis.
The blackout has caused critically important disruption in the capital, Santo Domingo. Mass transit systems, including the metro and aerial cable cars, were halted, forcing commuters to find alternative routes. Some passengers evacuated from the metro and walked through tunnels. Hospitals and banks are operating on generator power, but many homes and small businesses remain without electricity.
“Traffic is already chaos in eastern Santo Domingo,” said Tomás Ozuna, 37, an IT worker heading to his shift.lissa Fernández, 26, expressed concern about her commute home from work, noting the metro’s suspension. Leonel Encarnación, a barbershop owner, reported a loss of customers as air conditioning failed.
