Category: PR_CN

After a year marked by major power outages, high-profile resignations by public officials and widespread protests in the streets of Puerto Rico, the Biden administration is responding to calls from residents to help the U.S. territory quickly transition to renewable energy.

The municipalities of Dorado, Yabucoa and Loíza are among the applicants for mitigation projects that are already in the design phase, to address flood risks in their communities. The proposals are for nearly $600,000 approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to control or reduce the effects of flooding.

Puerto Rico’s residents say flooding, erosion, and loss of wetlands and other coastal habitats are among the most important threats the island’s government should prioritize in coastal resource planning, according to a survey by the island’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER).

After a year marked by major power outages, high-profile resignations by public officials and widespread protests in the streets of Puerto Rico, the Biden administration is responding to calls from residents to help the U.S. territory quickly transition to renewable energy.

Wood Mackenzie is partnering with the Let’s Share The Sun Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity that focuses on helping the poorest get access to electricity. The foundation uses solar energy as a solution to helping poor communities throughout the world who live without power by installing solar power in places that have access to the sun but no access to basic resources.

After almost three years, the proposed debt restructuring agreement (RSA) for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) has been cancelled. Pedro Pierluisi, the governor of Puerto Rico, announced on Tuesday his government is withdrawing from the RSA which would have imposed an increase in electricity rates of 2.7 to 4.6 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the next 47 years to pay off over $6 billion in PREPA’s outstanding legacy debt. The Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) expressed support for the governor’s decision. It is a good decision.

In early February, Puerto Rico received heavy floods which caused landslides, school and road closures, and residents fearing for more natural disasters yet to hit the United States territory. Puerto Rico has suffered through considerable natural disasters, specifically in the last decade. Since hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017, Puerto Rico has had to brace for hurricane season each year, especially as climate change intensifies.

When Raquel Robledo, a retired agronomist, was invited to participate in a training program on renewable energy, she jumped at the chance.
“I wasn’t sure I was going to get picked because of my age. I was aware that this was a program aimed at women entering the workforce and…I am happily retired,” she explained. But her 30 years of specializing in soil and water conservation made her an ideal candidate. “Capturing the sun’s energy was for me the next logical step; they didn’t have to convince me.”

The devastation wrought by the 2017 hurricane season showed that the Puerto Rico archipelago is already experiencing some of the gravest impacts of the climate crisis. And yet, it appears that powerful economic interests and lack of planning continue to take precedence over mitigating the archipelago’s worsening and intensifying climate-related emergencies. Recent environmental news about Puerto Rico has focused on ongoing construction projects as well as the destruction of the archipelago’s coastal ecosystems. But unbeknownst to many, environmental destruction, degradation, and harm are also increasingly threatening inland areas, under the banner of developing the archipelago’s sustainable energy infrastructure.

Puerto Rican Gov. Pedro Pierluisi is meeting with administration and agency officials in Washington on Wednesday as part of a formal agreement to revamp the U.S. territory’s outdated electric grid and move toward renewables.