Whitefish Energy announced Nov. 29 that its crews have completed their repair work on the important south-to-north 50900 transmission line on the island of Puerto Rico, allowing for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to soon deliver power to many of the neighborhoods in the greater San Juan metropolitan area that have been without electricity since Hurricane Maria hit the island.

Whitefish Energy announced Nov. 29 that its crews have completed their repair work on the important south-to-north 50900 transmission line on the island of Puerto Rico, allowing for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to soon deliver power to many of the neighborhoods in the greater San Juan metropolitan area that have been without electricity since Hurricane Maria hit the island on Sep. 20.

Line 50900 is a major artery of the Puerto Rico electrical grid, running from power generating stations in the southern part of the island, over The Central Range (La Cardillera Central) to the populated areas of the north, most notably greater San Juan. The line was heavily damaged by Hurricane Maria and required major repairs and reconstruction of both transmission lines and towers. Whitefish Energy has led a team of linemen, pilots and engineers to clear right-of-ways, assess damage, develop construction plans and airlift crews and equipment to restore its portion of the line that will bring more power to northern Puerto Rico.

"The completion of this work is a major milestone in the recovery efforts on Puerto Rico and it represents of collaborative effort across Whitefish Energy and a number of our subcontractor partners who have done some remarkable work under extreme and challenging conditions," said Andy Techmanski, CEO of Whitefish Energy. "With our transmission work now complete, PREPA will now take the final steps to verify switch and distribution capabilities so that electric power can be delivered to the residents and businesses in greater San Juan that have been without electricity for two months."

Techmanski said that based on the amount of power that is generated from the south and the importance of the 50900 line, it is reasonable to assume that once PREPA completes its work, power generation and delivery on the island, which is currently at 61.6 percent, should be significantly higher and getting closer to the 95 percent goal for Dec. 15 established by Governor Rosselló. "Our two months of work on the island has allowed the pace of power restoration to support the goals established by Governor Rosselló, and the great crews that have worked with us since October deserve tremendous credit for their dedication to this mission."

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