PREPA Plans to Dramatically Alter the Puerto Rico Electricity Landscape

Puerto Rico is still trying to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, and in an effort to try and prevent a similar catastrophe, PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) has put forth a controversial plan to reform electricity access on the island to make it more climate-friendly and reliable. 

Details of the PREPA Plan

The 20-year plan – known as the integrated resource plan or IRP – shifts the focus from fossil fuels to utility-owned solar power coupled with energy storage and a dash of liquefied natural gas (LNG).  In addition to embracing solar power, the plan also calls for a strategy of decentralization. 

PREPA wants Puerto Rico’s grid separated into 8 interconnected mini-grids, the goal of which is to allow each region to function independently in the event of a natural disaster.  These mini-grids would be further segmented into smaller microgrids, providing further redundancy and off-grid generation capability.     

Make no mistake, reliability is probably the most important objective of the plan.  A big issue following Hurricane Maria was fatalities arising from things like a lack of refrigeration to keep insulin supplies from spoiling, and heat stroke.  By emphasizing renewable energy sources like solar as well as system redundancy and decentralization, PREPA is attempting to prevent these types of issues going forward. 

It remains to be seen if the PREPA plan will ever come to fruition – it must go through an approval process involving many stakeholders, a process that will likely take at least 6 months.  My guess is that the plan will be scaled back a bit before everyone signs off, and that’s ok – some progress is certainly better than no progress!