Puerto Rico: A massive energy transformation is within reach

On her second visit to Puerto Rico, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is visiting homes and fire stations equipped with rooftop solar and storage and making positive statements about the need for widespread adoption of distributed renewable energy to provide life-saving resiliency to Puerto Rico residents.

Just over a month ago, Hurricane Fiona once again devastated Puerto Rico, plunging the archipelago into darkness. The total power outage was not expected because Fiona was a Category 1 hurricane that only hit the southwestern corner of the main island. 

Yet, in many ways, it felt like 2017 all over again, when Hurricane Maria knocked down power lines all over the archipelago and left many without power for almost a year. It’s estimated nearly 3,000 people lost their lives from Hurricane Maria and the aftermath when power was lost. The loss of lives associated with Hurricane Fiona is also mounting as media outlets report possible undercounts of deaths.

We no longer have to live this way. The Biden administration and leaders in Puerto Rico have the ability to help create a climate-resilient power system and save lives that are needlessly lost with each serious storm. 

A few weeks ago, I delivered that message directly to President Biden during a briefing when he visited Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona. I explained that the Biden administration holds the key and the purse strings to the necessary transformation of the Puerto Rico energy system because the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated billions for the electricity system and very little of it has been spent. 

The billions that remain must not be used to rebuild the centralized electricity grid, which depends on vulnerable transmission lines installed on utility poles and towers that get knocked down with every strong storm. Sticking with a centralized system, unsuitable for the Caribbean, would continue to allow the lives of millions of Puerto Ricans to suffer disruption and needless deaths. Furthermore, 100 percent distributed solar energy, built on Puerto Rico’s ample supply of rooftops, ends the reliance on burning coal, oil and gas that send harmful pollutants into communities and fuel climate change. 

Only about 59,000 households out of 1.3 million have been able to access rooftop solar panels and battery storage and were fortunate enough to keep our lights on throughout Hurricane Fiona. But the necessary energy transformation will never happen when only upper middle class and high-income residents finance solutions for themselves: 50 percent of Puerto Ricans have low-to-moderate incomes. 

The FEMA disaster recovery funds can make a resilient renewable energy transition affordable to everyone. 

The sun’s energy is abundant in Puerto Rico. In fact, a study from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) found that Puerto Rico’s rooftop solar energy potential is more than four times the total energy usage of the entire archipelago.  

Biden has taken an important step to advance an energy transformation in Puerto Rico. He recently gave Granholm authority to supervise federal resources for the electric system while driving a plan for renewable energy transformation.  Granholm must make sure the federal funds are only used for a climate-resilient plan that prioritizes a transition to rooftop solar and battery storage systems.  

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, who recently tweeted his support for spending billions on rooftop solar, must go much further and work closely with Granholm to ensure the unspent FEMA funds go toward rooftop solar and storage. 

Utility-scale solar, more commonly called solar farms, is not desirable in Puerto Rico because it would swallow up much of the archipelago’s arable farms, ecologically sensitive areas and scarce land. Puerto Rico’s residents are plagued by constant power outages and the private company managing the grid, LUMA Energy, is under scrutiny because of these problems. In addition, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which owns the grid, has prioritized fossil fuels despite a law that commits the archipelago to be powered by 40 percent renewable energy by 2025. 

Even with these hurdles, a massive transformation is within reach thanks to widespread social acceptance for rooftop solar, our abundant sun, sprawling rooftops and the availability of disaster recovery funds. The Biden administration has the opportunity to transform the Puerto Rico electric system to save lives, ensure the archipelago’s viability and enable wise use of federal funds.

Ruth Santiago, of Salinas, Puerto Rico, is a member of the White House Environmental Justice Council.