Hurricane Fiona has taken out most of Puerto Rico’s power as the island faces another natural challenge to its energy grid.
As the result of previous hurricanes that significantly impacted Puerto Rico, the US Department of Energy has studied and implemented programs to increase power resilience there. Earlier this year the DOE launched the Puerto Rico 100% Renewable Energy and Resilience Study, with a goal to develop a roadmap to complete renewable generation by 2050.
Hurricane Fiona began impacting Puerto Rico on Sept. 18, 2022, taking out power for more than 1.4 million businesses and residences. At one point on Sept. 19, PowerOutage.us listed the entire island without power.
The island’s LUMA Energy says Fiona has caused transmission line outages and that the entire grid has been shut down to protect energy infrastructure. The utility says restoration priorities will be given to critical services, such as hospitals.
According to CNN, power had been restored at San Juan’s medical complex, which is the island’s main health center. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi posted on Facebook on Sept. 18 that the entire island was without power, and that electricity would gradually be restored but it will take days.
The storm hit nearly five years to the day after Hurricane Maria knocked out 80% of Puerto Rico’s power lines and left 1.5 million customers without electricity, the largest and longest power outage in US history. Some areas of the island did not get power back for more than a year.
The DOE program is specifically geared toward making the island more energy resilient, especially in the face of hurricanes.
Experts at the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory put together a storm-ready checklist to help Puerto Rico prepare for hurricane season. That includes a goal of increasing the endurance of solar energy systems during storms, which can increase the amount of power available immediately afterward. The DOE also is helping to develop microgrids that use hydroelectric and soar power on the island.
Even before Hurricane Fiona, Puerto Rico residents have not been happy with energy progress. According to the Hill, residents have been protesting for more than a year for Puerto Rico to end its contract with private company LUMA, as frequent outages and high costs have impacted users.
The fragile grid continues to see problems, even when significant weather isn’t an issue. Sergio Marxuach, the policy director at Puerto Rico-based Center for a New Economy, tells NBC that small storms can result in half a million users losing power. He says progress will continue to be slow without a solution and cooperation from federal and local agencies.
Energy resilience, especially in the face of natural events, has been an issue across the US. Heat-related events this year in Texas and California created blackouts and created concerns grids in those locations would remain operational. Last year after Hurricane Ida, Entergy New Orleans established a program for businesses and other users to rebuild with energy resilience in mind.
For its part, the DOE program continues to look for progress to improve Puerto Rico’s grid through investments driven by data, modeling, and analysis. It also aims to fund recovery efforts that are coordinated across industries and align with local energy policy.
