Puerto Rico

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invoked emergency authority to compel Puerto Rico’s public utility to dispatch mothballed oil-fired and fossil-fueled power units, citing an imminent threat to grid reliability following two major blackouts in less than a month. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, acting on behalf of the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, […]

Analysis of the levelized cost of energy shows how renewables have become more cost-efficient every year. Today, the least-expensive way to meet energy needs is with renewable resources. For industries at risk of power outages or those requiring always-on power, clean energy projects can offer a lifeline. Fundamentally, distributed energy resources (DERs) can give organizations […]

LUMA, Puerto Rico’s electric power transmission and distribution system operator, has struggled to restore power to some of its customers in the wake of an outage that left the entire island without power on Dec. 31 at 5:30 a.m. local time. The company activated its Emergency Operations Center soon after the event occurred and said […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) on July 18 announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $861.3 million to Clean Flexible Energy, LLC. The money will finance construction of two solar photovoltaic (PV) farms equipped with battery storage, and two standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS), in […]

Companies operating in Puerto Rico have paid particular attention to the reliability and resiliency of their power supply after a series of major hurricanes battered the island in recent years. Those storms

Sunnova Energy International Inc., an adaptive energy services company, announced continued investments and expansion to its virtual power plant (VPP) network, providing increased reliability, reduced emissions, and lower costs. With its VPP investments, Sunnova is boosting accessibility in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Texas to enable customers to rapidly access […]

Energy transition is progressively being adopted globally, pushing combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) to embrace flexible operation also on islands. CCGTs are, or will be, ramping loads up and down to accommodate intermittent renewable power inputs into the grid. These maneuvers compromise operational stability and jeopardize plant availability. Plant trips on small to mid-size islands […]

Sunnova Energy Corp., an energy-as-a-service (EaaS) provider, has snagged a first-of-its-kind conditional federal loan guarantee commitment of up to $3 billion for a project that could further future virtual power plant (VPP) deployment. The Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) on April 20 said it would provide a partial loan guarantee for up […]

Puerto Rico continues to struggle with its power supply, with the island’s aging electricity infrastructure contributing to continued blackouts and reliability issues more than four years after hurricanes

San Juan, PR (March 22, 2021) – The village of Castañer, Puerto Rico has been selected to receive support for a solar energy microgrid project, as part of an initiative led by The Solar Foundation and Pathstone Corp. to strengthen and expand the solar industry in Puerto Rico and build more resilient communities. The microgrid […]

Dozens of microgrids are deployed at schools across Puerto Rico, bringing reliable, resilient power to the island. The project, featuring solar plus storage, is an important part of the region’s recovery

Puerto Rico has been battered by natural disasters in recent years, with hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, and a series of earthquakes in late December 2019 and early January 2020, causing widespread damage

Mobile power generation assets will also secure the electric grid and complement renewables GLASTONBURY, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PW Power Systems (PWPS), the leading provider of aero-derivative power generation energy solutions, announces that PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) has three, PWPS FT8® MOBILEPAC® gas turbines ready for operation. The 30-megawatt mobile gas turbine units are now available […]

In the September issue of POWER , I wrote about a public utility (JEA) that is exploring privatization, and in October, I looked at a city (Boulder, Colorado) that is exploring municipalization. While I think

In a recent interview, Raul Pereda, president and CEO of PW Power Systems (PWPS), talked to POWER about the company’s long legacy as a gas turbine manufacturer, advancements in technology it has achieved over the past 60 years, and new applications for its turbines within a transitioning energy system.  No one can read a history […]

After Hurricane Maria left the island of Puerto Rico in ruins, the ProCaribe liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) hub continued to operate, ensuring vital energy resources were available even in the wake of this

Puerto Rico’s energy infrastructure must be redesigned and rebuilt with an emphasis on resilience—and that will require wide-ranging, long-term efforts, the Department of Energy (DOE) says in a new report. In its June 20 report, “Energy Resilience Solutions for the Puerto Rico Grid,” the agency lists a number of recommendations for the government of the […]

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI), an industry association that represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies, made a point during its annual convention of recognizing the mutual assistance workers who labored tirelessly to restore power to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. Nearly 200 personnel, who had worked on the ground in Puerto Rico, gathered on stage […]

Natural disasters can strike anywhere, and the events of recent years—hurricanes, flooding rains, bomb cyclones—have ramped up the efforts of utilities to prepare for extreme weather. Power companies are

As another hurricane season approaches, the lessons learned by energy companies that have repaired power infrastructure in Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other areas provide a path forward for reducing the impact of

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (March 14, 2018) — Fairbanks Morse – an EnPro Industries company (NYSE: NPO) and leading provider of solutions that are powering the world forward – announced today that it has delivered its PoweReliability-as-a-Service platform to a Fortune 500 company in Puerto Rico. The installation provides a dual fuel combined heat and power […]

U.S. utilities continue to send workers to Puerto Rico to help restore that country’s electricity and rebuild its power infrastructure, a task that continues more than four months after back-to-back hurricanes left nearly all of the island in the dark. The Puerto Rican government this week said 83% of the island’s generation capacity has been […]

CHICAGO (Sept. 29, 2017) — In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria and two earthquakes in Mexico, Exelon has donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross to assist in disaster relief areas. The largest utility by customer count, Exelon, through its operating companies, is contributing another $200,000 to organizations aiding in relief efforts. […]

This September, Puerto Rico suffered an island-wide blackout that left 1.5 million utility customers without power for more than 50 hours and reportedly resulted in multimillion-dollar losses for its already troubled economy. The blackout in the U.S. territory with a population of about 3.5 million occurred on September 21, when a blaze erupted in a […]

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, PREPA, Wednesday made a $415 million payment to its creditors (mostly hedge fund investors), avoiding a default and giving the troubled government-owned utility more time to work out a deal to restructure its $9 billion debt. Had the utility defaulted, according to financial experts, it could have triggered the default […]

Developers of renewable energy projects in Puerto Rico must incorporate energy storage into new installations under recently approved standards. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and the island territory’s government-owned utility, Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) on Dec. 12 released a new minimum technical requirementthat requires new grid-connected solar and wind power projects to add […]