#Future of micro grids in puerto rico plus

Without financial structures in place designed to meet communities where they are, lower-and-middle-income-community-critical facilities will struggle to participate in the program.

Financial institutions must step in to drive equitable adoption, including serving as a bridge between project kickoff and reimbursement. 10įor the IRA to truly help transform Puerto Rico’s energy future, the stakeholders throughout the territory need to come together and focus on three key support areas:ġ. These funds should be distributed urgently and strategically to ensure the grid is resilient into the future. Over five years later, most of these funds still have not been spent. In 2017 after Hurricane Maria, the Federal Emergency Management Agency allocated billions of dollars toward reconstructing the electrical grid. 9Īs the IRA is rolled out in Puerto Rico, an emphasis on implementation will be crucial to ensure that history does not repeat itself.

#Future of micro grids in puerto rico plus

With the magnitude of the incentive up to 40% plus financial and technical assistance, the IRA could unlock access to and ownership of clean power for nonprofits and governments, providing crucial support to disadvantaged communities. The new direct-pay option offers different percentages of the overall project cost, with the amount based on the project meeting certain criteria, such as offering additional incentives for lower- and middle-income communities. This means that instead of only helping large firms lower their tax bills, organizations that pay no taxes can receive the ITC as a direct payment.

The IRA expands the reach of energy incentives to new beneficiaries in various ways, including a direct-pay option for the ITC. Current microgrid market prices make it impossible for most of these organizations to make the shift to renewable energy, especially in disadvantaged communities, cutting lifelines during times of crisis.

In Puerto Rico, nonprofits like homeless shelters and pre-vocational training centers provided vital support to community members after Hurricanes Fiona and Maria, including offering food, water and supplies and assisting with communication. Until now, Puerto Rican nonprofits and local governments could not directly take advantage of the solar Investment Tax Credit because they are not required to pay federal taxes. The law focuses strongly on renewable energy and includes new mechanisms to help underserved Puerto Rican communities pay for green energy upgrades such as efficient appliances and rooftop solar panels. The IRA has two main objectives: first, to lower energy and health care costs, and second, to help bring down the deficit. 5īut, for the vast majority, a solar microgrid is still a distant desire.įortunately, the Inflation Reduction Act holds the potential to ensure that clean power is more affordable and obtainable for more communities. For some fortunate ones, these onsite solar-plus-battery installations have helped drop electric bills to near zero and have provided reliable power during daily outages and during extreme and extended outages caused by hurricanes and rain. As it stands, Puerto Rican individuals and organizations see the appeal of solar microgrids. The extremely expensive electricity and the precarious condition of the power grid have served as the perfect motivators for increased solar-plus-storage microgrids. Outages impact the most vulnerable sectors of the population more severely, including those who cannot afford to have emergency backup systems. Daily power outages happen all over the island, affecting everyone. The service is not only expensive – it is also unreliable. 3 This means that Puerto Ricans have the highest energy burden (percentage of income spent on energy) in the nation. 2 The average Puerto Rican pays more than double the price for electricity compared to people living in the mainland United States.

Puerto Rico has the lowest gross domestic product per capita and the highest poverty rate in the United States. The video described the electricity challenges that Puerto Ricans face in normal times and disasters including hurricanes and earthquakes. But this happened last fall, when multi-platinum musician Bad Bunny released the video “El Apagón” a couple days before an island-wide blackout during Hurricane Fiona. It is not often that you hear about power grids or utilities in music videos, despite their key roles in our daily lives.