Energy Department Cancels Solar Program For Low Income Residents Of Puerto Rico

When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, it devastated the island’s archaic energy grid, leaving much of the island without power for weeks — or months, in some cases. Some may recall the US president at the time jetted in, handed out paper towels to those pleading for help, then climbed aboard Air Force One and jetted home again. Later he seemed to not understand why those people were not more grateful for his munificence.

Here it is 9 years later and Puerto Rico is still struggling to rebuild its electrical grid. The primary barriers have been mostly political. The US treats every dollar spent on Puerto Rico as a dollar wasted. Political bickering and in-fighting have characterized the management of its grid for generations. The basic problem is that most of the thermal generating stations are in Ponce on the southern shore, while most of the demand for energy is in and around San Juan in the north.

In between are mountains that are difficult to access. Out of sight, out of mind, as the expression goes. For decades, the transmission lines that traversed the mountainous region were neglected, so when Maria arrived, the backbone of the grid simply fell apart.

Perfect For Distributed Solar

Puerto Rico has another problem when it comes to a reliable energy supply. Outside of a few cities, many of its people live in remote communities that are especially well suited to distributed renewable energy — particularly solar. In 2021, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis released a report that found:

• Achieving 75% distributed renewable energy generation in 15 years is feasible with minimal upgrades to the distribution system.
• Equipping 100% of homes with 2.7 kW PV and 12.6 kWh battery backup can provide 2700 MW of power to the Puerto Rico grid, which would need to be supplemented by solar installations at commercial sites (rooftops and parking lots) to reach 75% renewable energy penetration.
• 75% distributed renewable energy by 2035 would cut imported fossil fuel costs to $430 million per year versus the recent total expenditures of over $1.4 billion per year. In addition, it would reduce carbon emissions by more than 70%.
• The distributed energy scenarios demonstrate there is no need for new fossil fuel generation or conversions of existing units to natural gas. It is possible to move directly to the widespread deployment of distributed solar and storage technologies, rather than locking in decades of new natural gas infrastructure.
• Under the 75% distributed renewable energy scenario, the vast majority of [the island’s] current power plants would no longer be needed.
• The 75% distributed renewable energy scenario is less expensive than the current base rate for electricity.

The Feds Renege

The federal government had pledged to invest in a transition to renewables, but then on January 9, it reneged on its promise and doubled down on thermal generation powered by fossil fuels. It cancelled over $300 million in funding for solar energy installations for thousands of low-income households, including a community solar project led by the Environmental Defense Fund.

Part of the money was targeted for about 100 families on Culebra, an island about a one-hour ferry ride from the east coast of Puerto Rico that is one of the most beautiful places you will find anywhere. The sun drenched island is the ideal place for solar power, but the US government is having none of that woke, green new scam stuff.

“The government’s decision to cancel this project is baffling, and fundamentally at odds with its own stated goals on energy security, abundance, independence and affordability,” said Daniel Whittle, a spokesperson for the Environmental Defense Fund. “Our project is designed to achieve all those goals, and simply put, would make people’s lives better. Canceling it will inevitably make lives worse by denying a proven, life-saving clean energy solution to a community that has already endured deadly, prolonged power outages.”

He added, “They are buying hook, line, and sinker that solar is the problem. It could not be more wrong.” Of course, Wright and his co-conspirators care nothing for truth. Their job is not to represent the American people [many are surprised to learn that residents of Puerto Rico are actually citizens] but to fatten the wallets of their industry buddies. Puerto Rico has always gotten the short end of the stick from the federal government, so nothing really has changed.

Theresa Bischoff, President of the Foundation for a Better Puerto Rico, asked, “As a last-mile community and the last ones to get power after Hurricane Maria, the cancellation of this wonderful program makes you wonder — how could it not be consistent with the current administration’s goals?”

30,000 Homes Affected

The cancelled funding would have helped 30,000 low income families in rural areas across the island to transition toward renewable energy. In an email obtained by the Associated Press, the Energy Department, headed by the head LNG pusher, Chris Wright, said the plan to move the island toward a 100% renewable future threatened the reliability of its energy system.

“The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the message said. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”  This is an argument based on ideology, not facts.

Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that statement. He said that some 200,000 families across Puerto Rico rely on solar power that generates close to 1.4 gigawatts of energy a day for the island. “That’s helping avoid blackouts,” he said, adding that the inverters of those systems also help regulate fluctuations across the grid. “It’s a tragedy, honestly,” he said. “These are funds for the most needy.”

Burn More Methane!

The Energy Department said it would re-allocate up to $350 million from private distributed solar systems to convert existing power stations to operate on methane — the stuff that Wright made a fortune peddling before he sold his soul to MAGA.

The cancellation of the solar projects comes a month after Puerto Rico’s governor, Jennifer González, sued Luma Energy, a private company overseeing the transmission and distribution of electricity on the island. González said the grid “has not improved with the speed, consistency or effectiveness that Puerto Rico deserves.”

The fragility of Puerto Rico’s energy system is further exacerbated by a struggle to restructure more than $9 billion debt held by the island’s Electric Power Authority, which has failed to reach an agreement with creditors. Puerto Ricans must pay Wall Street before they can expect any benefits from the federal government, even though they played no part in incurring those debts.

On an island where the poverty rate exceeds 40%, Halley’s Comet will reappear several times before that debt is paid off and the interest will continue to accrue in the meantime. For Puerto Rico, the choice offered by Washington is paper towels or a shit sandwich — sometimes both. It’s no wonder some residents want to reaffiliate with their old colonial master, Spain.