Shattered grid

The latest fight over Puerto Rico’s shattered grid

By ARIANNA SKIBELL

Puerto Rico still hadn’t recovered from Hurricane Maria’s deadly 2017 rampage when Hurricane Fiona hit last year, unleashing significant flooding and widespread power outages.

Now, a plan from the Army Corps of Engineers to spend up to $5 billion for repairs and upgrades to the territory’s troubled electric grid is sowing controversy, writes Miranda Willson.

The agency plans to build temporary natural gas- and oil-fired power plants, and fix existing infrastructure like electric transformers and cables, according to a notice it issued last week. Environmental groups and other critics say that’s not in line with a 2019 Puerto Rican law calling for a transition to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by midcentury, hitting 40 percent by 2025.

Only about 3 percent of the territory’s power comes from solar, wind and other renewable resources — far less than what experts say is feasible.

The Army Corps’ announcement also appears to be at odds with the Biden administration’s efforts to boost Puerto Rico’s solar capacity.

The Energy Department, for example, has received $1 billion from Congress that could help the island deploy more solar and battery storage projects to make the territory’s power system more resilient. It’s expected to announce its first awards in the fall.

“This is a disconnect. You have DOE and six national labs saying, ‘Wow, Puerto Rico should really go quickly to distributed renewable energy, because it has all this solar potential,’” said Ruth Santiago, an environmental lawyer in Puerto Rico who also sits on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.

“There’s really no justification for this additional fossil fuel generation,” she told Miranda.

White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan referred questions to the Army Corps and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, whose representatives said the new investment is ideal for “emergency power generation.” The work, authorized by FEMA, will be funded by disaster relief money that the Biden administration approved after Fiona, agency spokesperson Dasha Castillo said.

In April, environmental and community groups sued FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security for failing to “meaningfully consider” using renewable energy sources like rooftop solar in two grid projects on the island.

Craig Fugate, who led FEMA under the Obama administration, said the corps may be focusing on the quick deployment of fossil fuel generation because it has worked in the past.

“I think that argument [for fossil fuels] is getting harder and harder to defend because of the prevalence of renewables and battery systems, but in some cases, it may make sense,” he said.