DOE to Deploy More Than 3,000 Home Solar-Storage Systems in 2024 for Puerto Rico’s Most Vulnerable Residents

Brief description of the dive:

• The installation of thousands of home solar-storage systems supported by U.S. Department of Energy funding is underway in Puerto Rico, a senior agency official said Monday. The Solar Access Program, funded by the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund, aims to encourage the installation of up to 40,000 systems for low-income households that experience frequent power outages or have health conditions or disabilities that depend on electricity.
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will travel to Puerto Rico on Wednesday and Thursday to meet with homeowners who have received their first installations and to announce updates on the Biden administration’s investment in rural energy, the agency said.
• The DOE has been tracking power outages in Puerto Rico, particularly a blackout that left more than 340,000 customers in the dark during a June heat wave, the senior official said. “Rebuilding and modernizing Puerto Rico’s grid has been a top priority for this administration, and the DOE will continue to act with the urgency that Puerto Ricans deserve,” they said.

Diving Insight:

It’s been seven years since Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico’s power system, forcing a complete rebuild and leading to billions of dollars in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding and a plan to modernize and decarbonize the island’s energy system.

LUMA Energy, the company that manages Puerto Rico’s power grid, said it has made significant improvements since taking over operations through a public-private partnership in 2021, including installing stronger utility poles, upgrading substations, clearing hazardous vegetation and implementing automation equipment.

Despite these efforts, “the energy system remains fragile compared to other modern systems,” Juan Saca, president and CEO of LUMA, said in a statement about preparations for Hurricane Beryl this month.

DOE officials said DOE does not have the authority to respond to power outages that are not declared emergencies, but the agency is working on long-term solutions.

The DOE’s Solar Access Program has received thousands of applications from Puerto Ricans, and the agency said it expects to deploy more than 3,000 residential systems by the end of the year, officials said. There are no upfront costs, although households receiving a system may be responsible for a monthly maintenance fee of $10 to $45.

Puerto Rico could meet 100% of its projected electricity needs with renewable energy by 2050 under the territory’s Act 17 law, the agency said in a two-year study released in February. The study found that about 400 megawatts of new capacity would be needed in the near future to stabilize the island’s electric grid and address current generation shortfalls. Both utility-scale and distributed renewable resources would be required, along with significant amounts of energy storage, the report said.

DOE is “working directly with renewable energy developers” who are participating in the renewable energy pipeline on the island to leverage the infrastructure reinvestment category of Title 17’s Clean Energy Financing Program to “enable them to access federally backed loans to finance new utility-scale generation projects, which will help us expand Puerto Rico’s renewable energy capacity and provide greater stability to Puerto Rico’s grid,” a senior agency official said.