100% Renewable Energy by 2050 Mandated for Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico will get 100% of its power from renewable resources by 2050 under legislation signed April 12 by the territory’s governor. There’s a wide consensus that the goal is achievable, perhaps even before 2050. But many questions and disagreements remain over how the island will generate power in the years before then, how much that electricity will cost and how to ensure that Puerto Rico is better prepared for the next major storm. And amidst these sweeping energy policy changes, the island’s government is expected to privatize its public utility by the end of this year. “What happens between 2019 and 2050 is the question at this point in time,” says Alap Shah, vice president and director of technologies and services for Black and Veatch’s power business. The island completely lost power following Hurricane Maria in 2017. Its public utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) finally restored the last connection in the territory in March 2019, when it restarted an underwater line from the main island to the island of Culebra. While the current grid is somewhat improved over the decaying grid the territory had before the storm, “If you have the same storm today, you would have the same result,” said Jose Ortiz Vázquez, executive director and CEO of PREPA, at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on April 9. Puerto Rico is still reliant on transmission lines that go across the middle of the mountainous island, with most of the generation located south of the northern population centers. Despite repairs, poles, lines and substations are still vulnerable.