JPS cites lightning and transmission faults in preliminary blackout report

Jamaica's electricity system has been restored to normal after Friday night's all-island blackout, which Jamaica Public Service Company says was linked to bad weather and faults on major transmission lines.

The outage began shortly after 9 p.m. on June 5. In a 38-page preliminary report sent to Energy Minister Daryl Vaz, JPS said the trouble started with several faults affecting critical lines in the Corporate Area.

According to the utility, intense rainfall and lightning contributed to two faults on the transmission route between Hunts Bay and Rockfort. Another fault was also recorded on a line connecting Hunts Bay with the Port Authority.

JPS said those problems set off a wider disturbance on the electricity network. Protection equipment disconnected power at multiple substations, but the company said an apparent delay or malfunction in one section of the protective system may have allowed the fault to spread.

The report said a number of generating units then tripped one after another, leaving a sharp mismatch between available generation and demand. That imbalance led to the full collapse of the grid and a nationwide outage.

Restoration work began soon after the shutdown, with JPS bringing customers back in stages. Electricity returned first to parts of western and central Jamaica before crews expanded the restoration effort to other areas.

The company said the process was interrupted shortly before midnight, when another setback caused some communities to lose supply again while the grid was being rebuilt. Full service was eventually returned by about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

JPS said its early assessment points to lightning, damaged transmission infrastructure and a possible protection-system problem as key factors. The investigation is still under way, and the company is expected to submit a final report to the Office of Utilities Regulation.