Biden Sends Natural Gas Generators to Puerto Rico for Resiliency
BY IER
MARCH 23, 2023
Puerto Rico received three portable natural gas generators from the U.S. federal government that will supply 150 megawatts of emergency power to the island’s electricity grid. The three natural gas generators are the first part of a fleet that will supply 400 megawatts to the island. The generators are part of a larger Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, initiative to build power resiliency on the island. Puerto Rico has some of the most expensive and least reliable energy of any U.S. jurisdiction and power outages, particularly during hurricane season, are frequent. Crews will install the generators before the start of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season beginning on June 1.
FEMA is paying for 90 percent of the project and Puerto Rico’s government is paying for the remaining 10 percent as part of a deal reached last year. Because Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, it is eligible for such aid. The total cost of the project is not yet available because it would depend in part on how long the generators will operate.
Puerto Rico recently started permanent repairs on its power grid razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that struck the island in September 2017. Since then, power outages have become a common occurrence, disrupting activity on the island consisting of 3.2 million people. Puerto Rico’s power grid was further weakened by Hurricane Fiona, a Category 1 storm that hit Puerto Rico’s southwest region in September 2022, sparking an island-wide blackout and causing more than $3 billion in damage to its electric system.
https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/fossil-fuels/gas-and-oil/biden-sends-natural-gas-generators-to-puerto-rico-for-resiliency/
