Explainer-What has happened to Puerto Rico’s power grid since Hurricane Maria?

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hurricane Fiona knocked out electrical energy to the whole commonwealth of Puerto Rico beginning on Sunday, reviving recollections of Hurricane Maria, the lethal Class 4 storm that struck in 2017 and uncovered the feeble nature of the island’s electrical grid.

Now, practically all of Puerto Rico’s roughly 3 million residents are at nighttime once more, and 5 years after Maria, it’s elevating renewed questions in regards to the state of the grid.

WHO RUNS PUERTO RICO’S POWER GRID?

The state-run Puerto Rico Electrical Energy Authority (PREPA) owned and operated the island’s energy community when Maria hit. PREPA had been lengthy criticized for insufficient funding in its energy system and failure to ascertain back-ups to keep up energy throughout disasters.

Earlier than Maria struck, the debt-laden authorities and PREPA had been mired in chapter, and a federally appointed oversight board was created to handle the island’s funds.

In June 2021, Puerto Rico privatized the grid by partaking LUMA Vitality to function the system, despite the fact that PREPA nonetheless owned the infrastructure. LUMA is a three way partnership between models of Canadian power agency ATCO Ltd and U.S. power contractor Quanta Companies.

A examine from the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation (IEEFA) discovered that service restoration occasions and voltage fluctuations elevated after privatization largely as a result of a scarcity of skilled staff. The island additionally endured an influence outage in April that knocked out electrical energy for a 3rd of houses and companies.

LUMA didn’t instantly reply to request for remark.

WHY IS THE GRID STILL STRUGGLING?

Hurricane Maria decimated the island’s electrical system when it struck in late September 2017, primarily by knocking out transmission traces. Since then, restoration work has been targeted on changing these traces, whereas most different aspects of the grid haven’t been up to date, mentioned Tom Sanzillo of IEEFA, who researches Puerto Rico’s energy system.

It took a number of years underneath the Trump Administration for the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) to approve $9.6 billion in September 2020 to rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid. About one other $3.4 billion in federal funding has been added since.

Analysts say bureaucratic holdups, coverage disagreements and grid privatization points have slowed progress. Disputes over easy methods to spend funds have additionally stymied enhancements.

“Many enterprises, each for income and NGOs, desire a slice of the $12 billion in federal cash for rebuilding the grid,” mentioned Sergio Marxuach, coverage director of Puerto Rico-based assume tank, Heart for a New Financial system (CNE).

WHERE DOES PUERTO RICO’S POWER GENERATION COME FROM?

Pure fuel energy crops account for 44% of electrical energy, whereas 37% comes from petroleum like diesel gasoline, 17% is from coal and about 3% from renewable power, U.S. Vitality Info Administration knowledge exhibits.

Underneath the Puerto Rico Vitality Public Coverage Act, handed in 2019, the commonwealth is required to get 40% of its electrical energy from renewable sources by 2025, 60% by 2040 and 100% by 2050, in line with the EIA. Nonetheless, the grid’s modernization has additionally been delayed by coverage disagreements over utilizing renewables versus including extra pure fuel, Marxuach mentioned.

Puerto Rico has to import all its oil, coal and pure fuel because it doesn’t produce any fossil fuels. It does have photo voltaic and wind era that has contributed to renewables era. Coal-fired era is deliberate for phase-out by 2028.

In early 2020, two of the island’s largest energy crops have been broken in a 6.4 magnitude earthquake. These crops relied extra on pure fuel, inflicting Puerto Rico to shift its energy combine to extra petroleum, in line with the EIA.

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Further reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; Enhancing by Josie Kao)