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CFE Restores Power After Pre-Dawn Outage Cuts Service to 286,000 in Playa del Carmen and Cozumel

A protective trip at a high-voltage node underscores how fast growth is testing the Riviera Maya’s grid.

Overview

  • CFE said the blackout, which began at 4:56 a.m. Monday, cut electricity to about 286,087 users in the municipalities of Solidaridad and Cozumel.
  • Seventeen technicians executed emergency maneuvers and restored service in under two hours, with full normalization reported at 6:50 a.m.
  • With traffic lights out across key arteries, Mayor Estefanía Mercado ordered police and civil protection crews to direct vehicles at busy intersections.
  • The failure centered on the 115 kV bus at the Playa del Carmen substation, a hub that routes high‑voltage power and automatically trips to prevent equipment damage, which can shut wide areas off in seconds.
  • Shops, restaurants, and tour operators reported delayed openings and lost sales early in the day, and a separate set of planned maintenance shutoffs later Monday in the same area sharpened business calls for faster grid upgrades.