Puerto Rico

Richard Branson says the efforts made by one of his companies to roll out PV in the Caymans are part of a wider drive to bring renewable energy to the Caribbean.

The Puerto Rico utility’s favored generation plan, in a report prepared by Siemens, involves an LNG terminal at San Juan and would achieve only 55% renewables by 2038. A scenario without LNG would reach 79% renewables by 2038 at comparable cost, based on undisclosed cost assumptions.

The project is part of a 280 MW pipeline the Caribbean island is hoping to build in its effort to restore a safe and stable power supply to the population.

In this op-ed for pv magazine, Clean Coalition’s Frank Wasco explores how microgrid projects by Solar Saves Lives and other organizations show that communities can build back right and prepare for natural disasters.

Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (JSF) is examining a series of infrastructure projects that, if approved, would be fast-tracked for development and construction. Some of the PV arrays included in the infrastructure round already have PPAs signed with local utility PREPA. Two include co-located storage.

Current estimates suggest 80% of Puerto Rico is still without power, but thanks to Elon Musk’s efforts at least one children’s hospital has been able to turn the lights on.

The new PV capacity will be part of a plan to add 1.5 GW of new generation capacity and to address the state of emergency of the country’s electricity system.

The $255 million offering makes Sunnova the latest distributed solar provider to offer securities backed by residential solar assets.