dominican Republic Plunged into Widespread Blackout, Restoration Efforts Underway
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – A massiveโ power outage has paralyzed muchโ of the Dominican Republic, impactingโค the nation’s nearly 11 million โฃresidents and disrupting essential services. The blackout began Tuesday, leaving โขhomes, businesses, and critical infrastructure without electricity.
The cause of the outage remainsโฃ under inquiry, but โคofficials have identified a failure โขin theโค country’s โฃtransmission โขsystem as the โinitial โtrigger. Generation โขunits in San Pedro de Macorรญs and the Quisqueya Power โคPlant went offline,initiatingโข a cascade of failures across other โpower โplants and transmission lines,according to the Dominican Electricity Transmission โฃCompany. The Dominican Republic relies heavily on oil and its products for energy, followed by coal, natural gas, and โคsmaller contributions from solar,โข wind, โand 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 areโ working to determine โthe root โขcause of the failure, acknowledgingโฃ the complexity of the electrical system and theโข need for a โthorough analysis.
The blackout hasโ caused critically important disruption in the capital, Santo Domingo. Mass transit systems, including โthe metro and aerial cable cars, wereโ halted, forcing commuters to find alternative routes. Some passengers evacuated fromโค the metro and walked through tunnels. โHospitals and banksโ are operating on generator power, โฃbut many homes and small businesses remain without electricity.
“Traffic is already chaos in eastern โSanto Domingo,” โฃsaid Tomรกs Ozuna,โ 37, an ITโฃ worker heading to his shift.lissa Fernรกndez, 26, expressed concern about โคherโ commute homeโ from work, noting the metro’s suspension. Leonel โEncarnaciรณn, a barbershop โowner, reported a loss ofโ customers as air conditioning failed.
