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Puerto Rico — A Solar Laboratory

With a population of 3.4 million Puerto Rico is the largest territory in the US which is not a state. The Republican party is unwilling to make Puerto Rico the 51^st state because they believe it will always vote Democrat. So when the Republicans are in power this large island in the Caribbean is treated as the poor relation.

There are two large cities namely San Juan and Ponce but most of the island is small villages and towns. Traditionally it had a high birth rate and much of the population migrated to the mainland US especially New York and Miami. Despite widespread poverty the population still has a higher standard of living than most of the large Caribbean islands. Its location in an area of geological instability means frequent earthquakes. It has always been in the path of hurricanes and other tropical storms but in recent years the effect of climate change has intensified their severity. 

5 major incidents since September 2017 

1. Hurricane Irma September 7th 2017
2. Hurricane Maria September 20^th 2017
3. Hurricane Dorian August 2019
4. Earthquakes – December 2019 – January 2020
5. Pandemic  – February 2020 – ?

The first two storms destroyed 45% of the power infrastructure. Most of Puerto Ricos transmission lines and poles are above ground so very vulnerable to high winds. Total damage on the island amounted to $759 million from Irma and $94 billion from Maria. 1.1 million customers lost their power out of 1.5 million and of course it was accompanied not just by winds but by heavy rainfall, flash floods and landslides. On the coast, high waves also devastated the coastal towns. Most of the damage to the power system was done by the wind.

Irma was the 3^rd most damaging hurricane in 80 years and just 2 weeks later was followed by Maria which was the worst in 80 years. 

Hurricane Maria caused the biggest blackout in American history and even in July 2018 10% of the population were still not connected to the grid. Also 70% were without clean water as pumping water and cleaning it up requires electricity.

Hurricane Dorian missed the main island but effected smaller offshore islands causing widespread damage.

The earthquakes caused $3.8 billion dollars including damage to the power system and power was lost for several weeks island wide even though the quakes were confined to the SW of the island.

The position of the North American tectonic plate just off the south coast of Puerto Rico is a little like living next door to an elephant. Quakes – often a multiplicity over several weeks are inevitable so energy resilience is vital.

The whole process of damage to the power system is exacerbated by underinvestment and failure to repair the existing infrastructure. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority(PREPA) has now filed for bankruptcy with debts of $9 billion. On average the power plants are 44 years old. The deferral organisation responsible for controlling Puerto Rico’s budget (PROMESA) had also imposed budget cuts on PREPA.

After Maria the Federal Government was forced to step in and repair the electrical grid. Initially there were hints of corruption when the restoration of the grid was given to Whitefish a company based in Montana which only employed two people and no competitive bidding.  The contract was soon cancelled and replaced by 20 utilities from the mainland but they have simply bought what are called ‘traditional practices’ like re erecting poles and transmission lines when what is needed is underground cables or far cheaper a series of personal or mini grids covering smaller areas powered by solar energy or other renewables. What is needed is reliability and resilience to ensure that storms do not disrupt the power for months leaving whole towns and communities managing extreme events.

After a major storm there is massive debris, fallen poles, damaged generators and even fallen transmission lines. One of the mainland utilities delivered and operated gas turbines in 40 foot containers; right idea wrong ‘fuel’.

This massive destruction has forced the Federal government to give $800 million to Puerto Rico to create a new power structure for Puerto Rico. Several large solar companies have come in from the mainland with solar and battery storage and the water pumping stations are now running on solar power.

The island parliament is currently debating making Puerto Rico 100% renewable by 2050. However it is not sufficient to substitute fossil fuel generation for solar and other renewables. It will be necessary to make it resilient. The use of solar containers will allow the logistical task of storing pv panels while maintaining power supplies from battery storage safe inside the container.

BIBLIO

1. Wikipedia and news sources
2. Puerto Rico NREL – Energy Initiative
3. Power profile – solar and renewable energy
4. VOX .com. Solar now not in 2050
5. Tesla batteries – write up application.
6. Power Magazine – North America – Online version

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