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SEIA Welcomes Puerto Rico Into Affiliate Fold As Island Continues To Rebuild From Hurricane

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Lots of stories have been written in the past year about how solar energy has helped Puerto Rico come back from Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island’s electrical grid.

Whether it’s companies like sonnen or Sunnova installing solar electrical systems for island residents or solar-powered community centers becoming the hub for neighborhoods still waiting for power to come back on, solar power has taken on a central role in the slow comeback of the island to some sense of normalcy.

Often, this comeback has been slowed by inaction by their fellow citizens on the mainland and, in some cases, the plight of the island’s citizens has been completely forgotten as other tragedies and natural disasters seized the headlines. But the Solar Energy Industries Association hasn’t forgotten, and now it’s made it official – it will be working with the on-island solar energy group to make sure solar stays in the island’s energy spotlight.

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The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the national trade association of the U.S. solar industry, has announced that the Solar & Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA-PR) is now an official SEIA affiliate.

“This partnership was a natural outgrowth following the solar industry’s response to last year’s devastating hurricanes,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. “By working together under one umbrella, we will be better able to coordinate resources and promote the vibrant growth of Puerto Rico’s solar market.”

“We formed SESA-PR to unite the solar industry’s disaster response efforts following Hurricanes Irma and Maria,” said SESA-PR’s Founder and President, PJ Wilson. “With SEIA’s national resources and our on-the-ground efforts, the Puerto Rico solar and storage markets are poised for rapid growth. SESA-PR works to ensure there’s effective public policy, jobs training and financing mechanisms in place to facilitate the ramp-up needed for rooftop, commercial, and utility scale solar installations.”

Today, according to the EIA, Puerto Rico is home to 278 megawatts (MW) of operating or soon-to-be operating solar capacity, approximately 1 percent of the island’s electric generation.

Puerto Rico lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would commit Puerto Rico to getting 100 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050. The Puerto Rico Department of Housing is also requesting $400 million from the federal government to aid the growth of residential and small commercial solar systems with battery storage.

Puerto Rican Community Gets Solar Microgrid, Electricity Eight Months After Maria

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The Hill has an interesting article about how one community in Puerto Rico installed a community solar project and restored power to the town for the first time in eight months.

Setting aside the shame the rest of us should feel for leaving our fellow U.S. citizens in darkness for eight months, the story is inspirational and offers a window into how solar can help Puerto Rico improve the resiliency of its electrical system to build resiliency for future natural disasters.

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I’m going to quote the entire lead because it was so good:

Imagine living without electricity for 8 months. As the day turns into night, darkness overcomes the roads to your house. Hours go by, while you try to pass the time under the scant illumination of candles, gas lanterns or solar bulbs.

Unbeknownst to you, almost 3,000 of your fellow citizens will eventually die, mostly as a result of the largest power blackout in American history.

This was the situation faced by the residents of Toro Negro, a community in Ciales, Puerto Rico, after the devastation of Hurricane Maria, on September 20, 2017.

See what I mean?

And then the community solar came to the rescue. Thanks to the work of the Puerto Rico Community Foundation, Toro Negro received a donation of solar modules and battery storage, and now 28 homes are sharing a community solar array:

Twenty-eight homes in Toro Negro now share the benefits of solar power obtained from their roofs and other nearby premises, and the residents operate their microgrid. The residents of Toro Negro will now begin a process to establish their own rate. By generating its energy from 100 percent solar power, the project will also have a positive footprint in the environment.

Toro Negro will become the first fully operational community solar project in Puerto Rico, as well as the first “cooperative microgrid.”

As Puerto Rico goes through this year’s hurricane season, it could learn a lot from the small town of Toro Negro. Let’s hope that this is the first community solar installation of many in the island community.

Puerto Rico Advocates Form Solar + Storage Trade Group For Island

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

A group of solar + storage advocates has formed a new trade organization to fight for solar + storage solutions in Puerto Rico.

The Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico (SESA-PR) will promote the use of solar and energy storage to restore electricity to the entire island, something with which the U.S. protectorate has struggled since Hurricane Maria devastated the area last September.

“At this crucial moment for Puerto Rico, we are calling on the people to join this effort that aims to guide and educate around the use of solar energy to reduce dependence on the traditional electrical system,” said Patrick James Wilson, President of SESA-PR. “We have assembled a group of experts who will participate in a broad discussion on the future of energy on the island and share their perspectives from various sectors such as government, finance and economic development.”

One of the group’s executives grew up in Puerto Rico and said in a release announcing the group’s formation that the electric grid on the island has been broken since long before Maria ever visited the island.

“I was born and raised in Puerto Rico,” said Alejandro Uriarte, Director of SESA-PR and Managing Partner at New Energy Consultants. “Our electric grid was broken when I was growing up and is obviously in even worse condition today. Rebuilding after the hurricanes provides our island with a unique opportunity to upgrade our grid using better, more reliable technology like solar and battery storage that can make Puerto Rico an energy leader in the United States and across the world.”

Together, SESA-PR and partners will be hosting the inaugural SESA Puerto Rico Energy Summit on June 25 and 26. The conference will focus on the future of energy for the island and provide the perspectives from the intersecting worlds of solar, energy storage, government, finance, and economic development.

RSVP for the June 25 and 26 conference being held at the Intercontinental San Juan, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, HERE.

SESA-PR hopes to serve as the voice of the renewable and distributed energy industry in rebuilding conversations in Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and nationally.

Puerto Rico Should Spread Its Solar Success

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Casa Pueblo, an environmental nonprofit and community center in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, has kept its lights on continuously even after Hurricane Maria knocked out power to most of the rest of the island in September. How? A solar power system.

Arturo Massol Deya, president of Casa Pueblo, told Yale Climate Connections that the center has been running on solar power for more than 20 years.
Let’s be clear: While many of us on the mainland have been debating about whether solar power can replace the island’s grid, there’s actually a real-life case study proving that it can.

SolarWakeup’s View: One of our longest running current national embarrassments is continuing in Puerto Rico, where many of our fellow American citizens (I need to emphasize that every time I write about because, well, so many Americans don’t seem to understand or care about that) are still without power.

But as the mainland powers that be dither and deflect about whether they should still be involved, environmental nonprofit and community center Casa Pueblo could light the way – literally – to the type of future the island could have if it changed its power system completely over to solar + storage.

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Here’s another amazing fact I hadn’t heard about before Massol mentioned it in the Yale Climate Connections story: According to him, there’s a study conducted at the University of Puerto Rico established that 65 percent of all the roof areas in the islands was enough to produce 100 percent of the island’s energy demand.

To its great credit, the solar industry (most notably companies like SunPower, Sunnova, sonnen and others) have leapt into action to bring more solar to the island.

But I did want to take a moment to highlight Project Power Puerto Rico, launched by Scott Sullivan and other industry veterans to follow Casa Pueblo’s example and light the way to Puerto Rico’s solar future. Throw them a few bucks if you can.

There’s a real-life electricity crisis going on in Puerto Rico nearly seven months after the hurricane hit – but thanks to Casa Pueblo, there is a potential light at the end of the tunnel – if only we can find the will.

More:

Puerto Rico’s solar-powered energy oasis

Project Power Puerto Rico

Sunnova

SunPower

sonnen

Bonus:

Puerto Rico should be all our hearts’ devotion.