The Associated Press (AP) has reported that USD $325m federal funds will be used to reinforce Puerto Rico’s solar and storage infrastructure.
The US Department of Energy will provide the funds to help tackle the territory’s frequent power outages. The funds will primarily go to community centres and healthcare facilities such as hospitals, and “common areas in subsidised multi-family households”.
As an island territory, Puerto Rico has 3.2m people and a 40% poverty rate. This means that almost half of the population has unstable electricity access or cannot afford generators.
Puerto Rico’s electricity infrastructure has in the past been damaged by severe weather events such as Hurricane Cantera – impacting local populations and pushing electricity providers into debt.
On a visit to Puerto Rico last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm commented on this issue: “Households aren’t the only place you need power during and after an emergency.”
The outages additionally endanger patients at healthcare facilities, some of which rely on oxygen, refrigerated medicines such as insulin, and dialysis machines.
The visit saw Granholm tour the town of Santa Isabel on Puerto Rico’s southern coast, where an outage plunged its 10,000 citizens into darkness.
An investigation has been launched by Governor Pedro Pierluisi, following an outage that caused 350,000 people to go without power.
Close to home
Solar and storage has also seen investment in the United States itself, with Nevada and Massachusetts recently announcing projects and reforms.
Nevada’s Gemini solar and storage project, nearby Las Vegas, is now operational. With 1.8m solar panels, the project expects to generate up to 690MW and utilise BESS with a capacity of 1,4000.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts House of Representatives has passed a bill which targets challenges to the state’s solar and storage development.
The bill will include incentives for solar and storage investment, introduce a 5GWH statewide procurement for energy storage, create a streamlined permit appeal process, and address challenges to the grid’s interconnection.
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[Image: Electric Power Authority workers repair distribution lines damaged by 2017’s Hurricane Maria in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Image credit: AP]
