FILE – Site visitors lights are out of service throughout a blackout in San Juan, Puerto Rico, early April 7, 2022. As Puerto Rico struggles with continual energy outages and a decaying electrical grid, officers imagine the U.S. territory that’s closely depending on fossil fuels can totally shift to scrub vitality by 2050, in response to a brand new research by FEMA and the US Dept. of Vitality revealed on Feb. 7, 2024. (AP Picture/Carlos Giusti, File)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — As Puerto Rico struggles with continual energy outages and a decaying electrical grid, federal officers imagine the U.S. territory can totally shift from fossil fuels to scrub vitality by 2050, in response to a report Wednesday that has been two years within the making.
The report by the U.S. Division of Vitality and the Federal Emergency Administration Company stunned those that thought {that a} latest regulation requiring Puerto Rico to achieve 40% of fresh vitality by subsequent yr and 100% by 2050 was unrealistic.
“This transition will probably be a considerable effort and received’t occur in a single day, however 100% clear vitality is 100% doable,” mentioned Agustín Carbó, Puerto Rico’s grid modernization director throughout the U.S. Division of Vitality.
The division’s secretary, Jennifer Granholm, who traveled to Puerto Rico to assist current the research, echoed Carbó’s feedback, saying it was a “large, furry audacious purpose” that she believes may be achieved.
Energy crops that depend on coal, petroleum and pure fuel at present generate about 97% of Puerto Rico’s electrical energy, with renewables accounting for under 3%, in response to the U.S. Vitality Data Administration.
The U.S. Division of Vitality and the Federal Emergency Administration Company goal to vary that.
As a part of the push, officers on Wednesday introduced a brand new federally funded program that can subsidize residential rooftop photo voltaic and battery storage programs for as much as 30,000 low-income households on the island. Householders who qualify can begin making use of by Feb. 22.
At the moment, some 110,000 particular person photo voltaic programs are linked to Puerto Rico’s electrical system, which serves round 1.2 million prospects, and a median of 4,000 new photo voltaic programs are becoming a member of every month, mentioned Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.
The 2-year research discovered that Puerto Rico has greater than tenfold the renewable vitality sources required to satisfy the island’s calls for via 2050, however that new infrastructure able to producing tons of of megawatts is required.
Officers warned that such an funding may result in additional rate increases on an island that already has a a lot increased electrical price in contrast with the U.S. mainland. Residential charges are 24 cents per kilowatt-hour, in contrast with a median of 16 cents within the U.S. mainland. In the meantime, industrial charges are 25 cents per kWh, in contrast with 8 cents within the mainland.
“A strategic plan to regulate price impacts whereas attaining higher reliability over the close to time period is required,” the report acknowledged.
Price will increase are notably regarding in Puerto Rico, which has the best poverty price in contrast with any U.S. state at greater than 40% and has struggled to draw new traders because it emerges from the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy in history.
The report learning the shift to scrub vitality comes at a important time.
“Puerto Rico’s present electrical energy system is advanced, remoted, reliant on imported fuels, and susceptible to excessive climate occasions and different pure hazards,” in response to the report.
Whereas ongoing energy outages are partly blamed on Hurricane Maria razing the grid as a robust Class 4 storm in September 2017, the issues started a lot earlier.
“A long time of operational, upkeep, and monetary challenges have resulted in a system that lags far behind accepted reliability ranges,” the report discovered.
The frequency and length of energy outages in Puerto Rico has worsened in recent times, with shoppers spending a median of twenty-two hours with out energy final yr, in response to a report submitted to the island’s Vitality Bureau in late January.
The generational capability of Puerto Rico’s energy crops additionally has dropped from 52% to 42%, which officers with Genera PR, the company that operates and maintains such units, mentioned was a results of quickly taking them offline for upkeep.
The corporate mentioned it expects ongoing tasks to spice up capability to as much as 60% someday sooner or later.
Puerto Rico’s fragile energy grid already depends on temporary generators installed last year to minimize the variety of outages and permit crews to do upkeep. In a deal reached earlier this month with FEMA, the island’s authorities will function the mills via the tip of 2025.
The grid additionally will quickly be backed by a battery vitality storage system as a part of a not too long ago authorized $648 million challenge funded with federal cash.
