Governor Pierluisi reports on progress in energy transformation at a virtual seminar with the federal government

This release from the Office of the Governor was published using machine translation.

January 23, 2023- With the objective of Puerto Rico reaching the goal of having 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, the Governor, Pedro R. Pierluisi, pointed out today that the central government has taken concrete measures to guarantee that the citizens have access to clean and resistant energy.

“My commitment to the energy transformation of Puerto Rico is unwavering. In fact, the goals of my Administration and the ongoing work of the 'Puerto Rico Grid Resilience Study and Transitions to 100 Percent Renewable Energy (PR-100)' are directly aligned, which is why I have taken steps and concrete steps to ensure that our people have access to a clean and resilient distribution of energy", said the governor during the virtual seminar "PR100 One-Year Progress Update", organized by the federal Department of Energy (DOE, for its acronym in English).

This study, directed by the Grid Deployment Office of the federal Department of Energy, is the result of the signing of an Interagency Agreement signed in February of last year by the local government, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm; HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

During his speech, Governor Pierluisi highlighted that, in the past two years, 45,000 rooftop solar systems have been interconnected to the electricity grid, statistics that reveal that this is the highest point of interconnections in the past 10 years. Also, that with funds from the Community Development Global Grants Program (CDBG) and the American Rescue Plan (ARPA), subsidies and incentives have been granted to low-income families as well like small businesses.

“As a Government, we have accelerated the contracting process for 18 large-scale renewable energy projects to be integrated into the electricity grid and there are already several that are in the reconstruction and construction phases. Also, we are in the final stages of what will be the next round of renewable energy projects that will contribute an additional 1,000 megawatts of generation and 500 megawatts of storage to the grid, for which we are currently in the contracting process," said the governor. before participants, including DOE Secretary and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell.

“My Administration, in coordination with the DOE, obtained the assistance of FEMA and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, to incorporate temporary power generation and that in turn make key improvements in our network, as well as in the plants generators. This will bring about the necessary stability in our energy system in order to speed up the rebuilding of the grid, as well as the construction and installation of large-scale projects including microgrids and additional rooftop solar systems. I am more than sure and committed to guaranteeing that in the next two years the progress in our renewable energy objectives will be exponential for our Island”, added the chief executive.

On the other hand, the chief executive reviewed the strategies that the central government has implemented with the support of the federal government to accelerate the energy renovation process, including the Apoyo Energético program through which 888 small businesses have received subsidies to acquire solar systems and batteries with $20 million ARPA funds. “We have identified an additional $30 million in CDBG funds for this project to benefit more than a thousand small businesses,” he reported.

Regarding the CDBG Community and Water Resilience Installation Program, the governor highlighted that $300 million has been allocated to provide more than 10,000 beneficiaries of the Repair, Reconstruct, or Relocation (R3) housing program, panels, batteries, and solar tanks. Also, with the $500 million from the CDBG MIT Allocation, in the coming months close to 20,000 low- and medium-income families will be impacted with batteries and solar energy systems. Added to this is the $1 billion that Congress appropriated to foster Puerto Rico's energy resilience and the $1.3 billion from CDGB-DR to build microgrids, including the one at the Río Piedras Medical Center.

“We are in the process of a historic juncture to transform our energy system. I am confident that in the coming months and years our shared goals, including the PR-100 recommendations, will be on track and in full swing as everyone will see equitable progress toward reliable, renewable energy,” the governor concluded.