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How Can Puerto Rico Strengthen its Power Grid?
Hurricane Fiona, which struck Puerto Rico last month, devastated much of the island’s power grid. Damage from the hurricane, as tweeted by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González, is pictured. // Photo: @Jenniffer via Twitter.
In the wake of Hurricane Fiona’s pummeling of Puerto Rico, thousands of inhabitants remain without power. U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $60 million in relief assistance as well as to transform Puerto Rico’s power system, during a visit to the island to survey the damage. Luma Energy began operating Puerto Rico’s frail electric grid last year, but the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority still holds the island’s grid assets. What does Puerto Rico need to do to make its power grid more resilient? Does its system need a total revamping, as Biden suggests? Does it have enough funds, and what sources of financing are available to the indebted territory?
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Rocío M. Velez, legal advisor at SGH2 Energy Global: “Puerto Rico’s energy challenges are six decades in the making. There is no single factor that can address the lack of a robust power grid on an island that faces multiple federal delays in distributing federal funding. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) is a bankrupt entity that has a history of mismanagement, excessive costs, bureaucracy and lavish lifestyles of a few so-called union leaders. Puerto Rico is extremely dependent on fossil fuels to run its power grid, and the above ground transmission lines will continue to be an issue, every other year for any hurricane above 60 miles per hour that strikes the island. President Biden visited the island a few weeks ago and in a short three-hour visit, stated that Puerto Rico needed a revamping of its system. The main solution politicians have found for an obsolete power system and 75-year-old transmission lines is…”
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A sister publication of the Inter-American Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor, the weekly Energy Advisor captures fresh analysis from business leaders and government officials on the most important developments in oil and gas, biofuels, the power sector, renewables, new technologies, and the policy debates shaping the future of energy in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. To subscribe or for more information, contact Erik Brand, publisher of the Advisor, at ebrand@thedialogue.org.
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