Second widespread blackout in the archipelago
A total electricity outage left the islands of St. Thomas and St. John, in the United States Virgin Islands, without service this Sunday. It is the second widespread interruption recorded during the weekend.
The territory’s Water and Power Authority attributed the failure to the loss of generation at a power plant. Hours after having restored the supply after the first blackout on Saturday, a new failure once again left thousands of users in the dark.
The cuts affect more than 46 thousand inhabitants, who expressed their annoyance on social networks at the constant interruptions.
Promises of improvement and obsolete equipment
Governor Albert Bryan Jr. has announced investments of nearly $100 million in federal funds to modernize the grid. However, authorities recognize that problems persist due to old equipment, lack of maintenance and damage from meteorological phenomena.
According to official data, more than half of the generating units are more than 25 years old. The energy company plans to install temporary generation and storage systems with batteries in the coming months to reduce the frequency of failures.




