Puerto Rican Rooftop Distributed Solar

Canary Media: “Puerto Rico’s rooftop solar boom is at risk, advocates warn.” The grid in Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, + has taken other hits before + afterward. Thus residents are ‘flocking to rooftop solar and backup batteries in search of more reliable, affordable — and cleaner — alternatives to the central power grid.’ Fire stations, hospitals + schools are adding solar-plus-battery systems. In January, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi signed legislation extending the existing net-mtering policy thru 2031. “But the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) is pushing to undo the new law — known as Act 10 — by claiming that it undercuts the independence of the island’s energy regulators.” The federal government is spending over a billion dollars to support the adoption of renewables on the US territory, “including a $156.1million grant through the Solar for All initiative that focuses on small-scale solar.” This slashes CO2 emissions + lowers energy bills for the island’s 3.2 million people. ‘Luma Energy, the private consortium that operates the island’s transmission and distribution systems, gives customers credits on their utility bills for every kilowatt-hour of solar electricity they provide.’ Some 117,000 homes and businesses in Puerto Rico were enrolled in net metering as of March, with systems totaling over 810 megawatts in capacity. Net metering ​“is the backbone policy that allows people who are not rich to install solar and batteries.” ‘Clean-energy company Sunrunrecently enrolled 1,800 of its customers in a ​“virtual power plant,” or a remotely controlled network of solar-charged batteries.’ “Since last fall, Luma has called upon that 15 megawatt-hour network over a dozen times to avoid system-wide blackouts during emergency power events, including three consecutive days last week.” A classic struggle between centralized business-as-usual power + decentralized microgrids with much greater resiliency in the face of winds like those of Maria. May have been a pretty song, but the storm certainly not.