Six months after hurricane, the Corps remains committed to Puerto Rico

Photo By Preston Chasteen | Despite the rugged terrain, power workers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contractor "Power Secure" reconnect power lines near the town of Lares, Puerto Rico, Jan. 24, 2018. An estimated 80 percent of the power grid in Puerto Rico was destroyed by Hurricane Maria, in September 2017. FEMA assigned the United States Army Corps of Engineers to the lead the federal effort to repair the hurricane-damaged electrical power grid in support of the Government of Puerto Rico. (photo by Preston L. Chasteen USACE Public Affairs)  

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

03.20.2018

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS
Task Force Power Restoration (Puerto Rico)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Six months after Hurricane Maria made landfall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers remains committed to safely and urgently restoring reliable power and returning normalcy to the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico as quickly as possible.

USACE works as part of the Unified Command Group along with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the island’s Restoration Coordinator. The Corps is on track with its contribution to the goal of restoring electricity to 95 percent of pre-storm customers on the island by the end of March.

The Unified Command Group and USACE leadership acknowledge that less than seven percent of pre-storm customers are still waiting for their electricity to be restored. Power restoration for the final five percent of customers in more remote areas with challenging, mountainous terrain could take until late-May.

The Corps is leveraging its resources, alongside the other four restoration contingents, to complete the mission and achieve the paramount objective of restoring power for the citizens of Puerto Rico. Over the next several weeks, industry utilities operating under Mutual Assistance Agreements, the New York contingent, PREPA and PREPA’s contractors will all continue to maximize manpower and material against remaining priority lines, in accordance with PREPA's Restoration Master Plan.

The final phase of the mission will be to restore grid power to the remaining five percent of people in the most remote and challenging areas and to build resiliency and redundancy into the grid, with the goal of restoring the system to full operational status.

“This phase will primarily be executed by PREPA crews and their contractors,” said Col. Jason A. Kirk, commander, Task Force Power Restoration. “USACE will continue to distribute, account for and transfer materials, along with managing the provision of temporary emergency power with small, medium and ‘mega’ generating units.”

• Date Taken: 03.20.2018
• Date Posted: 03.21.2018 09:26
• Story ID: 270090
• Location: SAN JUAN, PR