Puerto Rico plans stop short of the grid of the future
PREPA’s draft IRP calls for rapid deployment of solar and batteries, including the installation of as much battery storage as is currently online in the entire United States over the next four years, in a system broken up into “minigrids”. However, it stops short of utilizing behind-the-meter PV and storage.
As utilities fight distributed generation, electricity is getting less reliable
One of the best tools that would allow utilities to meet their central stated mission of providing a stable electricity supply is one they are fighting the hardest.
Puerto Rico utility favors LNG over solar in Siemens plan
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.
Puerto Rico Governor “soft vetoes” 100% renewable energy bill
Governor Rosselló is reported to have sent the bill back to a committee over the massive tax credit it would reward to renewable energy projects, but other 100% renewable energy legislation is in the works.
Warnings about Puerto Rico 100% renewable energy bill
Solar providers have expressed concern about language allowing charges on net-metered systems, and IEEFA warns that the bill will enable a rush to gas.
Puerto Rico groups call for 100% renewables by 2050
The island would transition from 2% renewables now to 100% by 2050, in a plan collaboratively developed and endorsed by industry groups and city mayors.
SPI 2018: Contradictions, disasters, resilience
This year’s opening session for largest gathering of solar professionals in the United States alluded to many of the themes that the solar industry is grappling with.
SunCast: Andrea Luecke and John Berger on the 1-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria
As part of the collaboration between pv magazine USA and SunCast, we bring you an audio special edition marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria and looking at the role that solar and energy storage has played in the recovery of Puerto Rico.
How to install solar power strong enough for a hurricane
The 2017 hurricane season gave analysts at the Rocky Mountain Institute a broad dataset of storm-related solar power plant outcomes, from which they have delivered a list failures and specification for high wind speed survival.
Elon Musk’s unprecedented solar+storage vision for Puerto Rico moves forward
Puerto Rico is requesting ten 20 MW / 20 MWh batteries to be deployed strategically in the country’s power grid. The RFQ notes that sites should be upgradable to 40 MW / 160 MWh.
