AMERIKAN COLONY

U.S. makes $860M loan guarantee to aid Puerto Rico in strengthening its energy grid


Oct. 21, 2024 / UPI

On Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm (pictured in April) says this newly announced U.S. investment will add up to 200 megawatts of solar generation, and a further 285 megawatts of reliable storage capacity for Puerto Rico’s electric grid to improve its resilience. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo


Oct. 21 (UPI) -- The federal government announced Monday a more-than-$860M private-loan guarantee for construction of solar and battery storage facilities for Puerto Rico.

This latest development gets Puerto Rico one step closer to its 2050 goal to be energy independent amid a slow, global movement to transition to clean, renewable energy like other places in the United States have, such as Hawaii and California.

On Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said this new U.S. investment will add up to 200 megawatts of solar generation, and a further 285 megawatts of reliable storage capacity for Puerto Rico's electric grid to improve its resilience.

"And help reduce energy costs that have remained too high for too long for too many families," she said in a release. "All while enabling the commonwealth to reach its ambitious climate goals."

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Energy said its Loan Programs Office would officially be giving a $861.3M loan guarantee to Clean Flexible Energy, LLC to help finance the constriction of two solar photovoltaic farms with battery and other standalone storage units on the U.S. territory.

The borrowing Clean Flexible is an indirect subsidiary under a joint venture of The AES Corporation and TotalEnergies Holdings USA, Inc.

Its new facilities will be located in Guyana -- also called Jobos -- and Salinas. The aim is to help deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to Puerto Rican communities grappling with worsening and lingering effects of climate change.

And local labor union leaders, it was noted, will be engaged in the construction and operations planning at both the Jobos and Salinas sites. It was financed as part of President Joe Biden's two-year-old Inflation Reduction Act.

"Access to reliable energy is a matter of life or death," Granholm, a former Michigan governor, said. "Especially in the face of climate-change fueled natural disasters that are increasing in intensity and frequency."

In July, the federal government announced its "conditional" commitment for Clean Flexible's now guaranteed loan. Styled as "Project Marahu," the new solar PV installations are expected to produce about 460,000 MWh of energy annually.

The Department of Energy added that it will generate enough electricity for roughly 43,000 homes and enhance Puerto Rico's grid reliability and energy security.

Puerto Rico's Act 17 requires that Puerto Rico's public utility end by 2028 all coal-fired energy generation in order to shift the island to a 100% renewable energy mix in the next few decades by 2050.

Investments by the federal government into Puerto Rico's energy infrastructure have been an ongoing process on the commonwealth island with an eye toward improving its energy resilience during extreme weather events which have seen an uptick over recent months and years.

Nearly a year ago now as a signal of things to come, the Energy Department put in a $440M down-payment for solar companies and nonprofit organizations to equip vulnerable Puerto Rican households with rooftop solar and battery systems.

That was estimated to lower energy bills for roughly 35,000 low-income, single-family households.