US Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm has concluded a week-long visit to Puerto Rico.
Along the trip, the Secretary met with community members in the eastern region of Puerto Rico providing updates on the Department’s urgent work to help repair and modernize Puerto Rico’s grid with clean and reliable energy sources.
The Secretary also discussed next steps to allocate the $1 billion Puerto Rico Grid Resilience Fund, authorized by President Biden in December 2022 and administered through the Grid Modernization and Recovery Team of DOE’s Puerto Rico, for activities that will improve the resiliency of Puerto Rico’s electric grid. .
During the visit, the Secretary announced that the La Margarita Residents Association, based in Salinas, Puerto Rico, is one of the recipients of DOE’s inaugural Community Clean Energy Coalition (CCEC) award.
The Salinas community organization aims to provide at least 40% of its senior and low-income residents with community solar power for a more robust and resilient microgrid.
The Secretary also congratulated the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Government of Puerto Rico for moving forward with the development of the Centro Medico microgrid, ensuring that operations tables and rescue teams can continue to operate in the face of extreme weather events .
The visit marked the secretary’s third visit to Puerto Rico and kicked off the PR100 community engagement tour, a series of events where the secretary heard suggestions for the PR100 study, a DOE-funded report by FEMA, which is looking at ways to help the Island meet its ambitious policy goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2050.
The secretary traveled to Salinas, Vieques, Culebra and Loíza where she met with residents and community organizations, and visited critical care centers that are experiencing challenges and are looking for locally adapted mechanisms to increase their energy resilience and survival through access to clean energy such as solar. energy storage and battery.
It is worth noting that the Secretary is expected to return to Puerto Rico for a fourth visit in March 2023.
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