Generac receives up to $200 million from DOE for solar and storage in Puerto Rico – pv magazine USA

July 18, 2024 Ryan Kennedy

Generac Power Systems announced it has received a grant of up to $200 million over five years from the Department of Energy to install distributed solar and battery storage systems in Puerto Rico.

The funding comes from $1 billion in funding from the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund. Through the Solar Access Fund, Generac will facilitate the installation of home solar and energy storage systems for disadvantaged households in Puerto Rico. Installations are expected to begin in August 2024.

The projects are to be implemented in low-income areas experiencing frequent and prolonged power outages, as well as in households where a resident is disabled and energy dependent.

The program will also help Puerto Rico meet renewable energy and resilience goals. In 2017, after back-to-back hurricanes destroyed about 80% of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid and caused thousands of lives to be lost, Puerto Rico passed Act 17, a policy to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

“We have provided reliable backup power solutions to the residents of Puerto Rico for more than 20 years, including after Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s power grid and left 95 percent of residents without power,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, president and CEO of Generac. “We are proud to receive this DOE grant to provide clean, resilient and efficient power to those who are often underserved during power outages.”

Generac will partner with several companies on the program:

• PathStone, a nonprofit organization dedicated to community and workforce development and human services in Puerto Rico since 1998, and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), a nonprofit clean energy organization founded in 1982 that pioneers community outreach and market research, will jointly coordinate additional community outreach activities to serve as liaisons between Solar Ambassadors, installers and eligible beneficiaries.
• FR-BLDM, a leading local contractor with many years of experience managing government programs, will manage the installations in partnership with other local, small, family-owned businesses in Puerto Rico.
• Juapi Energy, a PWRcell installer and Generac service dealer in Puerto Rico, will provide service support and perform installations for residents.
• Palmetto, a leading climate technology company accelerating clean energy adoption, will expand three of its commercial software applications: a fintech platform, installer partner portal and asset management services.

“Supporting local businesses is an important part of our goal to provide reliable and sustainable
“We provide energy solutions to Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable communities,” said Norm Taffe, president of Generac’s Energy Technologies Division.

Distributed solar and storage programs in Puerto Rico have already had some success. In May, residential solar company Sunrun said it had signed up nearly 1,800 customers and more than 2,000 batteries for its PowerOn Puerto Rico program. Sunrun’s fleet of batteries sends stored solar power from customers’ batteries to stabilize the grid and avoid blackouts and the use of fossil-fuel-fired power plants. Customers are paid for their participation, and Sunrun expects to average at least $550 per customer. Sunrun predicts there will be 50 to 125 events per year that will require the fleet of Sunrun-enrolled systems to provide power on demand, stabilizing the local grid.

Read more about the Department of Energy’s grid modernization programs.

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