DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

On Monday, 23 February 2026, around 10:50am, a major failure in the National Interconnected Electric System (SENI) caused a massive blackout across the Dominican Republic, heavily impacting Greater Santo Domingo and several other provinces. The government said most power would be resumed by midnight.

The national blackout is the second in four months. The previous was in 11 November 2025.

According to official reports from the Dominican Electricity Transmission Company (ETED) and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the blackout was triggered by a technical failure on the 138 kV Hainamosa–Villa Duarte transmission line. Specifically, the incident involved the explosion of a circuit breaker at the Hainamosa substation around 10:50am.

The technical failure was exacerbated when the system’s protection mechanisms, including the busbar differential protection, failed to activate. This...