FEMA funds $97 million Puerto Rico microgrid with 15 MW solar, 12 MWh storage

The microgrid project is a rare example of the allocation of disaster relief funds for rebuilding Puerto Rico’s grid with solar and storage.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding a $97 million microgrid project for Puerto Rico’s island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra. The project will include 15.5 MW of solar, 11.6 MWh of storage, and fossil generation in an amount that has not been finalized, FEMA said. The project will retrofit the islands’ existing 9 MW of generation that includes diesel generators, FEMA added.

The “solar backup systems” on the two islands, FEMA said, will enable medical facilities, schools and other critical service providers to function “in case the main grid fails.” The islands are located to the east of Puerto Rico’s main island.

The microgrid project is one of 21 projects across the U.S. territory that will “provide energy resilience and promote the use of renewable energy,” said Manuel Laboy Rivera, executive director of Puerto Rico’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resiliency.

Priorities

FEMA said it has allocated $32 billion to help Puerto Rico rebuild after Hurricane Maria. Regarding the total solar and storage capacity across all FEMA-initiated projects in Puerto Rico, a spokesperson said that so far FEMA has reviewed projects under a $3 billion funding program that would include “over 10 MW” of solar capacity and “over 12MWh” of storage capacity. Those amounts include the solar and storage planned for the Vieques and Culebra microgrids.