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The answer to Puerto Rico’s disintegrating power grid: Rooftop solar

Puerto Rico should install rooftop solar panels to reach national renewable energy goals, according to a U.S. government study.

The installation team secures solar panels to a roof as part of the Spokane Indian Tribe’s DOE co-funded Children of the Sun Solar Initiative. Photo from Tweedie Doe, DOE. Source - U.S. Department of Energy. Public Domain
The installation team secures solar panels to a roof as part of the Spokane Indian Tribe’s DOE co-funded Children of the Sun Solar Initiative. Photo from Tweedie Doe, DOE. Source - U.S. Department of Energy. Public Domain

Puerto Rico should install rooftop solar panels to reach national renewable energy goals, according to a U.S. government study.

On Monday, The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released a one-year progress report for the Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transition to 100% Renewable (PR100) Study

Launched on February 2, 2022, PR100 entails five activities, with an emphasis on modeling and analyzing scenarios that meet Puerto Rico’s renewable energy targets and achieve short-term recovery goals and long-term energy resilience. 

Government officials vowed to ramp up from 3 percent to 40 percent renewable energy by 2025, and 60 percent by 2040, with the aim of modernizing Puerto Rico’s disintegrating power grid by looking at wind and solar resources on the island, land availability and power consumption, reports ABC News.

“This is so utterly important,” said Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Energy Secretary, during a webinar Monday to talk about the study’s preliminary results. “We have set out to cut through bureaucracy and get federal funding moving.”

This aerial picture shows a flooded area in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, after the passage of Hurricane Fiona
This aerial picture shows a flooded area in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, after the passage of Hurricane Fiona – Copyright AFP SERGEY BOBOK

More than 600 participants joined the webinar, including solar companies eager to secure a stake in upcoming projects and disgruntled Puerto Ricans who questioned the reality of implementing solar panels on an island where more than 40% of the population lives below the poverty line.

“These systems are too costly, and truly hardly anyone can afford them because it’s a debt impossible to pay over many years,” wrote one participant named Wanda Trinidad in the webinar.

The study so far has found there is not enough land available on the island for enough wind-power infrastructure to meet Puerto Rico’s goal to transition to 100 percent renewables by 2050, according to The Hill.

The study estimated that Puerto Rico’s transmission system can bear the growth of the projected renewables over the next five to 15 years but that further grid upgrades will be necessary for the longer term, particularly for wind power.

Additionally, the study has also simulated hurricanes and found that smaller renewable resources, such as rooftop solar panels, spread out tend to recover faster than the current system of fewer and larger power plants.

The island is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels for electricity production, with petroleum products in particular accounting for about 60 percent of energy consumption, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

This year, scientists expect to study the possibility of using marine, hydropower, and pumped storage hydropower as additional sources of renewable energy, among other things. Scientists also said that the initial climate risk assessment showed a temperature increase of up to 2 degrees Celsius and a 20 percent drop in rainfall by 2055.

As for funding – The Washington Post is reporting that a senior official at the U.S. Department of Energy said the $1 billion approved by U.S. Congress in December to help restore Puerto Rico’s grid is not sufficient. U.S. President Joe Biden had sought $3 billion, and a coalition of Democratic lawmakers had requested $5 billion for solar rooftop panels and storage installations.

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We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our dear friend Karen Graham, who served as Editor-at-Large at Digital Journal. She was 78 years old. Karen's view of what is happening in our world was colored by her love of history and how the past influences events taking place today. Her belief in humankind's part in the care of the planet and our environment has led her to focus on the need for action in dealing with climate change. It was said by Geoffrey C. Ward, "Journalism is merely history's first draft." Everyone who writes about what is happening today is indeed, writing a small part of our history.

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