San Juan, Puerto Rico – July 6, 2026 – As Puerto Rico enters the peak summer energy demand season and experiences higher temperatures, LUMA continues implementing initiatives to strengthen the reliability and resilience of the electric grid. In addition to coordinating strategies to more efficiently manage increased electricity demand, the company is carrying out proactive work across substations, transmission lines, and the distribution system to reduce the risk of service interruptions.
As part of these efforts, LUMA continues expanding the integration of Customer Battery Energy Sharing (CBES), which allows participating customers to make power from their residential battery systems available to support the electric grid during emergency conditions. So far this year, LUMA, with the help of over 90,000 customers, has added an average of 75 megawatts to reduce the impact when the system is experiencing generation shortfalls.
As part of its peak demand season preparedness strategy, LUMA crews also completed essential work at substations across the island to address identified issues, correct vulnerabilities, and strengthen service continuity. This work included mitigating hot spots, replacing surge arresters, and installing auxiliary components at substations such as Sabana Llana in Carolina, Daguao TC in Ceiba, Fajardo TC, and Parque Escorial in Carolina.
Hot spots are electrical connection points where potential failures may occur, while surge arresters protect critical equipment from lightning strikes and other electrical surges caused by severe weather or system fluctuations. Proactively addressing these components helps reduce the risk of equipment failures, extends the lifespan of critical infrastructure, and strengthens overall grid stability for customers. During this work, crews also identified a condition affecting a breaker at the Sabana Llana TC substation. Early detection allowed the issue to be repaired immediately, preventing an unplanned service interruption.
“These measures strengthen substation reliability and enable the grid to operate more safely and efficiently during periods of peak demand. For our customers, this translates into a more resilient electric system with a greater ability to meet the energy needs of homes, businesses, and industries across Puerto Rico,” said Gary Soto, LUMA’s Director of Energy Management and Transmission Operations Center.
In addition to the completed substation work, LUMA has strengthened its preventive initiatives across the distribution system to enhance grid stability during the peak demand season. Over the past several months, crews completed more than 1,000 priority pole-related projects and addressed more than 700 hot spots identified through field inspections. Additional improvements included replacing vulnerable infrastructure and performing preventive maintenance on critical grid equipment to help reduce the risk of outages across the island.
At the same time, LUMA’s transmission line crews continue carrying out essential preventive work to prepare the grid for increased summer electricity demand. These efforts include upgrading and replacing insulators on multiple transmission circuits to strengthen system stability, along with ongoing thermographic inspections that help identify weak points or potential failures before they affect the reliable operation of the transmission network. These proactive measures are essential to ensuring that the high-voltage system operates with greater resilience during periods of peak demand.
LUMA remains firmly committed to strengthening grid reliability and ensuring that Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution infrastructure is prepared to meet the demands of the peak summer season for the benefit of nearly 1.5 million customers across the island. These efforts reflect the company’s proactive approach to protecting service reliability and operational safety.
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About LUMA LUMA is a Puerto Rican company that, since June 1, 2021, operates and maintains 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 service they deserve. As a customer-centric company, LUMA’s entire workforce of over 4,000 employees is focused on safely delivering an exceptional customer service experience to its nearly 1.5 million customers.
