Written by Vishal Yashoda & Ashmi Guevara
This story was originally published on GlobalVoices.org
Super Bowl halftime shows are always a spectacle, but at Super Bowl LX, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny did something unusual: he crafted a compelling masterclass in energy communications by turning electricity infrastructure into perfectly timed choreography.
As he performed his song “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), dancers dressed as line workers climbed utility poles while sparks flickered along power lines. For millions watching around the world, it was a striking visual moment. For Puerto Ricans, it reflected an everyday reality, a fragile electricity grid and recurring power outages that have — for years — shaped daily life on the island.
As Diana Hernández, professor and co-director of the Energy Opportunity Lab at Columbia University, later noted to Straight Arrow News, “For the public that might have forgotten, Bad Bunny climbing the poles gave voice and visibility to an unforgettable instance of being powerless in Puerto Rico in a very literal sense.”
Without once referring to terms like “climate change,” the performance illustrated a moment of energy communication that millions could immediately comprehend, not just locally but globally:
Because of the urgent and far-reaching nature of the issue, climate science and the resulting communication about the situation are often linked to an increase in existential anxiety. Yet, programs like the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and children’s books by authors like New York-based writer Ian Hunt, aim to tackle the problem at a systemic level.
Strained grid
Puerto Rico’s electricity system has faced repeated crises since Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. The storm destroyed much of the grid and triggered the longest blackout in modern U.S. history, leaving some communities without power for nearly a year. Nearly nine years later, outages still remain a routine occurrence.
Federal data show that between 2021 and 2024, Puerto Rican customers experienced roughly 27 hours of electricity interruptions annually, excluding major storms — far higher than mainland U.S. averages. In 2024 alone, residents averaged more than 70 hours without power, including storm-related outages.
Meanwhile, electricity prices also remain among the highest in the United States, ranging from USD 0.24 to 0.49 per kilowatt-hour in recent years, significantly above mainland averages. These figures reflect decades of underinvestment, ageing infrastructure, and a grid exposed to intensifying climate risks — but numbers alone cannot capture what a blackout means in lived terms: spoiled food, stalled dialysis machines, closed businesses, and children slouching under the flashlight to complete school homework.
Dying energy systems
Puerto Rico’s electricity system relies heavily on centralised fossil-fuel generation plants located in the south of the island. Electricity must travel long distances across mountainous terrain to reach major population centres in the north. These transmission corridors are particularly vulnerable to hurricanes, landslides, and extreme weather events.
Meanwhile, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2019 Puerto Rico Infrastructure Report Card gave the island’s energy system a grade of F, citing deteriorating equipment, insufficient redundancy, and limited resilience planning. Energy scholar Cecilio Ortiz García described the system bluntly: “The grid that Maria found was already on its knees.”
Climate change has since intensified the risks. Warmer ocean temperatures contribute to stronger storms, and subsequent hurricanes such as Fiona in 2022 again triggered widespread outages. In a system already weakened by decades of underinvestment, even smaller disturbances can trigger cascading failures for locals.
Investment challenges
In 2021, Puerto Rico transferred management of its transmission and distribution network to LUMA Energy, a U.S.–Canadian consortium, in an attempt to modernise operations. However, the privatisation effort has been controversial.
Locals have protested frequent outages and rising electricity bills, while critics argue that improvements in reliability have been slow. Supporters counter that rebuilding an ageing grid requires time and sustained investment.
Financial constraints further complicate the situation. Puerto Rico’s public power utility, PREPA, carries billions of dollars in debt, making large infrastructure upgrades difficult to finance. Federal assistance has also fluctuated. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a USD 1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund aimed at expanding rooftop solar and battery storage for vulnerable households, but later reporting indicated that portions of this funding were delayed or redirected.
Despite these challenges, a transformation is underway, and rooftop solar and battery storage have expanded rapidly across Puerto Rico. By mid-2025, the island had installed more than one gigawatt of rooftop solar capacity, supplying a growing share of electricity demand.
Communities step up
Community-led initiatives have also emerged. In the mountain town of Adjuntas, the nonprofit Casa Pueblo has pioneered solar microgrids that allow neighbourhoods and businesses to continue operating even when the central grid fails. One local business owner described the change simply: “Now I have stability. I don’t run out of power, and I can continue to provide service.”
Engineers increasingly advocate what they call a “bottom-up grid” approach, building resilience through distributed energy systems that connect households, neighbourhoods, and eventually larger networks. For island regions vulnerable to hurricanes and extreme weather, distributed systems offer both decarbonisation and energy security.
Pop culture as climate communication
This is exactly what made Bad Bunny’s halftime show so critical. Climate communication often relies on statistics, policy debates, or projections about future risks. While important, those messages can feel abstract — but cultural storytelling works differently.
By placing “linieros” — the workers who repair Puerto Rico’s power lines — at the centre of a global performance, Bad Bunny made the island’s infrastructure and its failings visible. Transmission poles became stage props; blackouts became lyrics.
As Hernández observed, the moment represented “an ascension to power despite all the challenges, and really in many ways against all odds.” Millions watching the Super Bowl suddenly saw what was usually hidden: the physical systems that keep societies running, and the consequences when they fail.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s energy future remains uncertain. Debates continue over privatisation, fossil-fuel dependence, renewable deployment, and how quickly the island can transition to a more resilient energy system, but the halftime show revealed something unexpected: infrastructure can capture cultural attention. The electricity grid — normally invisible to the public — briefly became the focus of a global conversation.
Puerto Rico’s grid crisis is not unique. Around the world, energy systems face mounting pressures from climate change, outdated infrastructure, and rising demand. The difference is that most grids do not get a Super Bowl moment. Bad Bunny did not lecture audiences about climate change or energy policy. Instead, he showed what vulnerability looks like — and sometimes, that’s the most powerful communication of all.
