News brief

Officials investigate Puerto Rico blackout. An island-wide blackout hit Puerto Rico on April 16, leaving 1.4 million customers without power and more than 400,000 without water. Power was restored to 98.8% of customers early April 18, less than 48 hours after the outage hit, according to Luma Energy. Authorities are still investigating the causes of the blackout, which could include whether several breakers failed to open or exploded, Gov. Jenniffer González said. It will likely take weeks to find a precise reason for the blackout, although Ms. González said she expects to have a very preliminary report by April 20.

Hurricane Maria upended Puerto Rico’s electricity grid in 2017 when the territory’s government was already mired in bankruptcy. Five years later, we reported how clean-energy ambition hadn’t solved the island’s persistent power outages.