A one-time, large-scale vegetation clearing of more than 16,000 miles of powerlines across Puerto Rico will improve service reliability

San Juan, Puerto Rico — September 12, 2023 – Today, LUMA announced a historic initiative, leveraging federal funding, to launch Puerto Rico’s Vegetation Clearing Initiative. The historic vegetation clearing effort willaddress overgrown and hazardous vegetation by clearing over 16,000 miles of transmission and distribution powerlines, as well as critical substations and telecom sites to establish rights of way across the island and implement intelligent vegetation tools. The initiative is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023, lasting three years, and will build on the more than 3,300 miles of powerlines already cleared of vegetation across Puerto Rico by LUMA since 2021.

“This is a historic opportunity for Puerto Rico to not only improve the reliability and resiliency of the system, but make it possible to rebuild the whole grid to provide enhanced levels of service. We are incredibly thankful to our local and federal government partners for their continued support in making this possible for the communities in Puerto Rico,” said Dr. Shay Bahramirad, LUMA Senior Vice President of Engineering, Asset Management and Capital Programs.

Vegetation Clearing Initiative: Scope & Impact on Reliability

Across Puerto Rico, vegetation is the leading cause of outages, representing more than 50% of service interruptions throughout the island. This vegetation clearing initiative is expected to result in a 15% improvements in reliability after the first year of work, and a 35-45% reduction of outages after the more than 16,000 miles are cleared by the end of 2026. As part of this initiative, LUMA expects to make the following progress each year:

• 5,700 miles of powerlines cleared in the first year,
• 6,900 miles of powerlines cleared in 2025,
• and the remaining portions of the system by the end of 2026.

The vegetation clearing initiative is a one-time, multi-year effort that will clear overgrowth and vegetation across critical electric infrastructure and will focus on a full remediation of all transmission and distribution rights of way, substations, and telecommunications sites. As part of this initiative, it is estimated that an additional 1,300 to 1,500  new jobs will be created to remove hazardous vegetation from across Puerto Rico.

“This incredible initiative is going to bring improved service and reliability for our customers throughout Puerto Rico and it would not be possible without the hard work of our LUMA team and our partners including the Central Office of Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency (COR3), the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB), the Governor and the Federal Government. We look forward to building on the years of progress already made by LUMA as we work to rebuild and transform the electric system across Puerto Rico,” said Juan Saca, President and CEO of LUMA.

About LUMA

LUMA is a Puerto Rican company that, since June 1, 2021, operates and manages the electric power transmission and distribution system in Puerto Rico. LUMA is a company driven by a mission to transform the electrical transmission and distribution system to provide all Puerto Ricans with the reliable, resilient, cleaner, and affordable electrical grid they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce of more than 4,000 employees is focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its 1.5 million customers.