The U.S. government announced Thursday that $325 million in federal funding will probably be made available for solar and battery storage facilities in Puerto Rico because the U.S. territory struggles with chronic power outages.
The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, targets community centers and health facilities in addition to common areas in subsidized multifamily housing.
“Homes are not the only places that need power during and after an emergency,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during a visit to Puerto Rico.
The announcement got here amid widespread anger over power outages which have repeatedly left Puerto Ricans at midnight. On the island of three.2 million people, the poverty rate is over 40 percent and a few cannot afford a generator.
Government officials say the outages also threaten the lives of those that depend on oxygen, chilled insulin and dialysis machines.
Granholm visited the southern coastal town of Santa Isabel on Thursday, one in every of several towns within the region affected by a blackout in June that left 10,000 people without power.
In the identical month one other large-scale power outage Across Puerto Rico, around 350,000 people were without power, prompting Governor Pedro Pierluisi to order an investigation.
“This is unacceptable,” Granholm said of the situation.
The power outage in Santa Isabel and surrounding towns prompted Luma, a non-public company liable for the transmission and distribution of electricity, to put in emergency generators.
Luma also launched a $4 million project to move and install a brand new mega-transformer in the world, however the plan fell through when staff discovered that an “internal problem” rendered the ability unusable, further infuriating customers and government officials.
Luma recently announced plans to maneuver one other transformer from the southeastern coastal town of Maunabo, however the announcement angered the town’s mayor, who blocked access to the plant on the grounds that his town trusted it.
Luma has said that a transformer shouldn’t be essential to produce electricity to Maunabo.
On Sunday, Luma warned that not less than 11 transformers at substations in Puerto Rico were “vulnerable” and that a failure would go away tens of 1000’s of shoppers without power.
Puerto Rico’s power grid remains to be weak after seven years Hurricane Maria A severe Category 4 storm hit the island, leaving some islands without power for as much as a yr.
While the storm destroyed the ability grid, it had long been crumbling, because the Electric Power Authority of Puerto Rico, which s until he tries to restructure debts value over $9 billion.
Before Maria, Puerto Rico’s renewable energy generation was at 3%. That share has now risen to 9%, in accordance with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, because of households and businesses that might afford to put in solar panels and storage on their roofs.
Amid the outages Puerto Ricans affected by electricity bill increases Many people have denounced this. Electricity prices in Puerto Rico are currently 41% higher than the typical price within the USA.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Energy also announced an $861 million loan guarantee to support the development of two photovoltaic solar parks within the southern cities of Guayama and Salinas. The guarantee was offered to Clean Flexible Energy, LLC, an indirect subsidiary of AES Corporation and TotalEnergies Holdings USA, Inc.
Before arriving in Puerto Rico, Granholm visited the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday, where authorities announced the discharge of $100 million in federal funds to buy fuel storage facilities.
The U.S. territory has also struggled with chronic power outages in recent times. On the day Granholm visited the island, St. John and St. Thomas experienced island-wide outages.
Nearly three months ago, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. declared a state of emergency on account of ongoing power outages on St. Croix.
The US Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority is battling dilapidated infrastructure; various local authorities, including waste management authorities and facilities reminiscent of hospitals, have amassed debts totaling greater than US$11 million.
