The Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office has committed $1.2 billion for clean energy projects aimed at reducing Puerto Rico’s dependence on its fragile, fossil-fuel-powered energy grid.
The department said the projects, if finalized, would more than double the office’s support for utility-scale solar generation and battery energy storage in Puerto Rico. The projects would add a combined 202 megawatts of solar capacity and 455 MW of storage capacity.
Puerto Rico’s fragile power grid is prone to outages, with an old cable triggering a near-total blackout on New Year’s Eve.
Under the Biden administration last week, the department closed a $584.5 million loan guarantee to subsidiaries of Convergent Energy and Power to finance a solar photovoltaic system and battery energy storage system in the Puerto Rican municipality of Coamo and battery systems in Caguas, Peñuelas and Ponce.
