Cover Page Legal HistorySports governor stresses preventionThe San Juan Daily StarApr 82 min readGov Jenniffer González Colón reacted earlier this week to the femicide reported in Adjuntas also through a painful scenario that impacts us with so many children involved in that scene,” the governor said at a press conference on Sunday “That’s why the rapid response of the police superintendent And the reason is the following: Obviously the victim went to a municipal [police] station That’s why the police superintendent went directly there González Colón noted that bills were introduced to standardize the response in situations of violence “There’s another initiative that should be launched in the coming weeks which is an advertising campaign against violence seeking to encourage women to seek help early,” the governor said “She [victim Caroline Boe] had already been the victim of physical assault by her partner So it was foreseeable that there would be another attack And those are the things we have to avoid: that cycle of we have to prevent the next attack from being the occasion of death “But what about those children and those who may have witnessed this?” González Colón added “This is an experience that will change their lives and will leave a lasting impact on the mental health of these minors And that’s why the government of Puerto Rico is there We’re obviously looking for family members who can take care of the minors who can immediately receive the resources of social workers and psychologists to manage this and lessen its impact So those are the coordinations we’re going to be making.” “I think the most important thing is the campaign against violence and what we’re going to be doing in public schools to provide emotion management courses so we don’t have to resort to this use of violence,” she said Sunday morning in the Valle Verde residential area in Adjuntas (Social Networks)According to the police report a call was received about an incident of gender-based violence at the scene fled the scene but was arrested in the Capáez neighborhood The incident occurred in the presence of seven minors the slaying was the seventh recorded case of femicide in Puerto Rico this year There are tools for victims of gender-based violence as well as the Office of the Women’s Advocate if they are or know of someone experiencing a similar pattern They also can contact the police confidentially at (787) 792-6734 or (787) 343-2020 as well as the Office of the Women’s Advocate at (787) 722-2977 © 2025 The San Juan Daily Star - Puerto Rico The microgrid system is run by business owners and residents through a nonprofit called the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas (ACESA) which sells electricity to the commonwealth’s grid through a power purchase agreement Money saved by not buying power from Puerto Rico’s main power company will support maintaining the microgrid and starting new community projects You can read more about the Community-owned solar microgrid project in Adjuntas and the work Casa Pueblo does on their website here The system includes some ~700 panels mounted on seven buildings in the town’s central plaza and a battery storage system capable of providing up to 187 kilowatts of power The microgrid can sustain 14 downtown businesses (part of ACESA) for over 3 days without external power or PV production ensuring they remain operational during extended outages the microgrid provides enough off-grid electricity to keep these businesses running serving as critical community hubs in the event of a prolonged power failure This is a community-owned and community-conceptualized project local business owners are at the heart of the project directly involved in the management and ownership of the project Help us build power in the climate movement by contributing a one-time or recurring donation that will go to supporting our global work as well as various activities and campaigns in communities in different regions Donate to CAN Subscribe to receive monthly updates on the latest on the climate movement including the content from across the network news articles and opinion pieces on climate Subscribe to our newsletter Climate Action Network-International (CAN) is the world’s largest environmental network of over 1,800 non-governmental organisations in over 130 countries fighting the climate crisis Fill out this membership enquiry form to become a member of CAN administration@climatenetwork.org (Photo credits) © CAN International, Kaiserstr. 201, Bonn, 53113, Germany thousands of local residents bearing flags and placards marched through the small town over the weekend It was a joyful display—some marchers walked on stilts; others twirled glossy streamers—all to celebrate a new cooperatively-owned solar microgrid which had just been installed in the town center After Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017 some residents of the town in the island’s mountainous central region were left without power for 11 months before Puerto Rico’s utility brought service back online 14 local businesses will be able to produce their own electricity and run for about 10 days using batteries connected to solar power installed on their roofs even if connections to the main grid fail again Businesses hooked up to the microgrid won’t have to rely on expensive previously the primary backup energy source to keep their doors open if long term blackouts come again The new system means they can also help provide essential services to people in the surrounding areas storing medications like insulin in commercial freezers But for some of those involved in the project those solar panels and batteries also have political implications “We want to help decolonize Puerto Rico,” says Arturo Massol-Deya executive director of Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas the local organization that spearheaded the microgrid project “It’s not just about solar panels for people to have power after a hurricane It is much deeper and more important for the future of the island.” with much of the power system being decades-old and in a state of disrepair The majority of that power (97%) comes from centralized fossil fuel power plants largely in the southern part of the island which burn coal and natural gas imported from the U.S Massol-Deya sees that all as part of a system of extractive colonialism that has helped keep people in small towns like Adjuntas poor while transferring wealth to elites in San Juan and the U.S with businesses and residents paying lower rates for electricity while profits are invested in maintenance and local community development rather than benefiting power companies and fossil fuel producers “Having the capacity to produce energy with local resources puts Puerto Rico in a better position to address the political future of the island,” Massol-Deya says “We’re building energy freedom as a way to build means for self determination at the local scale.” Read more: How Solar Power Helped Some Puerto Rico Homes Avoid Hurricane Fiona Blackouts Department of Energy’s Puerto Rico grid modernization and recovery team has also become interested in the possibilities of community solar power “We’ve discovered that there’s been a huge grassroots movement at the community level,” he says the Energy Department announced that it was gathering feedback to implement a $1 billion fund to increase energy reliance and lower costs for Puerto Ricans; the department was particularly interested in rooftop solar projects and “community and critical service energy resilience,” which may include community microgrids like the one in Adjuntas a program manager at the Honnold Foundation (founded by professional rock climber Alex Honnold) which donated about $2 million to build the Adjuntas solar project says that money could set off a sea change “I think we are at the beginning of a wave of microgrid transformation,” she says we will have a completely different society with more reliable energy and much more resilient in terms of the impacts of future hurricanes,” he says Since the company can buy natural gas from itself it will have an interest in continuing to burn fossil fuels Massol-Deya says he’s glad to see federal support for community solar energy in Puerto Rico—but he worries that the mainland’s money will become mired in the same red tape that left much of the Hurricane Maria recovery effort in limbo for years He credits progress in places like Adjuntas to grassroots social movements: local people advocating for their local solutions against what he characterizes as a corrupt island government “We need to galvanize these social movements to keep pushing for energy democracy,” he says “Because it’s not going to happen from the top down.” that community solar push is still nascent But other small towns are attempting to follow Adjuntas’s lead “These rural communities are where a lot of the exciting renewable energy projects are happening because of their isolation and being neglected by the central government and hurricane response,” says Andrew Hermann a nonprofit working to bring a microgrid to the town of Maricao “This is why a lot of communities are coming together and deciding we need to do something different here.” Write to Alejandro de la Garza at alejandro.delagarza@time.com SearchCasa Pueblo to mark opening of clean energy site in AdjuntasThe San Juan Daily StarDec 17 20241 min readWork proceeds on the Plaza de la Independencia Energética in Adjuntas earlier this month (Facebook via Casa Pueblo)By The Star Staff Casa Pueblo will celebrate the inauguration of the Plaza de la Independencia Energética this Saturday during its traditional Fiesta del Sol workshops and exhibitions at its headquarters in the urban center of Adjuntas “This will be the first solar microgrid network in Puerto Rico a model for the future created through community action,” Casa Pueblo Director Arturo Massol Deyá said “This space redefines the role of energy in the development and life of a people.” The plaza includes a 55-kilowatt solar microgrid as well as a work by the artist Antonio Martorell The site will serve as an energy oasis for homes and will house the Solar Microgrid Research Center with a coffee roasting session using beans harvested at Finca La Olimpia followed by workshops and the presentation of the documentary “Casa Pueblo: la gota que se volvía río” (Casa Pueblo: The Drop That Became a River) a group will depart for the plaza for the opening ceremony The event will feature musical performances by Tony Rivera The activities will be broadcast on Radio Casa Pueblo 1020 AM Leer este artículo en español After Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico in 2017 nearly destroying the island’s electricity system residents in the mountainside town of Adjuntas devised a novel plan Small shops near the central plaza would install rooftop solar panels Rather than keep the clean energy for themselves the businesses would store it in a communal battery bank using wires and computer systems to connect the devices as if running their own electric utility the Adjuntas ​“microgrid” is nearly ready to launch The project has become a high-profile example in Puerto Rico of how residents are devising their own solutions to an electricity system that remains fragile and heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels Should the island’s main grid go down again — as it did for many months after Hurricane Maria — the shops in Adjuntas will be able to stay open without having to run costly and they’ll have a place to refrigerate insulin and charge electronics after the next disaster technicians finished installing the 1-megawatt-hour battery storage system which will tie together 14 businesses and two apartment buildings surrounding the palm-tree-studded plaza The Adjuntas microgrid is currently undergoing field testing to make sure it can properly draw store and distribute power from more than 200 kilowatts’ worth of solar panels scattered across the buildings “This is something that we can feel extremely proud of,” said Arturo Massol Deyá, the executive director of Casa Pueblo the community organization that’s spearheading the initiative Casa Pueblo will lead a march to both commemorate the microgrid’s launch and urge leaders to develop similar projects across the U.S Joining the parade will be members of the Honnold Foundation which has invested about $2 million in the microgrid and the engineers who worked on the project including some from the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez campus and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee “We want to celebrate our achievement in a way that advocates for energy security for everyone in Puerto Rico not just in Adjuntas,” Massol Deyá told Canary Media ​“Energy should be in the hands of the people and of the community itself.” The microgrid is part of a larger effort to ensure that more of the island’s 3.2 million people can access the benefits of resilient renewable-energy projects — particularly given the ongoing struggles of the centralized system In response, Puerto Ricans have installed at least 55,000 rooftop solar arrays with backup batteries on homes, stores, hospitals and fire stations. The technology has proved to be a lifeline every utility customer initially lost power But those with solar panels and batteries were able to run crucial medical devices and operate communications networks in the storm’s aftermath many Puerto Ricans can’t afford to install their own systems or they can’t accommodate the extra equipment on their homes and shops The goal is to inject clean electricity into the main grid to help reduce power interruptions and fluctuations improving service for the wider population Adjuntas sits high up in Puerto Rico’s central mountain range narrow streets leading to the central plaza Its remote location and challenging terrain have meant the town is often one of the last places to be reconnected to the central electricity system following a disaster After Hurricane Fiona brought historic flooding and caused dangerous landslides some homes in Adjuntas didn’t regain power for a month The new microgrid is an attempt to address some of the challenges that such isolation brings by insulating at least part of the town from future blackouts “It’s been a whirlwind,” Cynthia Arellano a project manager for the Honnold Foundation participants have navigated a series of setbacks A spate of earthquakes in January 2020 caused significant damage in the region the Covid-19 pandemic upended daily life and disrupted global supply chains The resulting shortage of semiconductor chips from China delayed the installation of the Adjuntas battery storage system by nearly half a year the microgrid’s earliest proponents had to convince skeptical or uninterested local business owners that joining a first-of-a-kind initiative would be worth their while 16 participants formed the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas Everyone pays a fixed monthly rate for the solar electricity they consume The group uses that money to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the system the fees will also help lower-income families and rural shops to install their own solar panels and batteries To start, ACESA members will pay 25 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity, said Ángel Gustavo Irizarry, the group’s president. The rate is less than the 27.53 cents/​kWh that commercial utility customers paid in December 2022 according to the latest figures from the U.S microgrid participants won’t have to worry about surprising surcharges whenever the costs of importing oil and gas for power plants skyrocket “Completing this project will be a blessing for business owners for our staff and for the community that we serve,” said Irizarry a bustling restaurant on a corner of the main square The community ownership model isn’t the only unique aspect of the project The 1-megawatt-hour microgrid also includes novel technology that can digitally connect the solar panels and batteries Experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing an ​“orchestrator” tool that’s meant to keep the system running smoothly during an extended grid outage the Adjuntas project involves two smaller microgrids with batteries divided among two storage containers on opposite sides of the plaza The orchestrator tool will enable the separate systems to work in concert by sharing information and giving or taking each other’s electricity supply as needed “If there’s damage to one or even both microgrids they’d be able to operate at least in some capacity and still be able to provide backup power,” said Ben Ollis an Oak Ridge engineer who is leading the project with his colleague Max Ferrari Larger-scale energy projects on the U.S. mainland use similar tools — called distributed energy resource management systems — to control and coordinate solar arrays batteries and backup fossil generators across the broader grid Ollis said his lab’s orchestrator is the first that’s designed to operate at a much smaller “This is going to be our proof of concept,” he said ​“We’re trying to design it in such a way that it can be expandable to any number of microgrids” in Adjuntas and beyond The Oak Ridge team received a $3.8 million grant from the U.S Department of Energy for the orchestrator tool which they’ll continue developing until the grant expires next year Arellano of the Honnold Foundation said her organization will also remain involved in Adjuntas to help maintain and evaluate the installation the community will be more prepared to face future disasters ​“I’m not going to say we’re safe from climate change,” he added ​“But we’re going to be in a much better position during the next hurricane season.” By Katherine Rapin, originally published by Nexus Media News have built the island’s first community-owned solar microgrid Leer en español. For two weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 Lucy’s Pizza was the only restaurant open in the central mountain town of Adjuntas so everyone came here to eat,” said owner Gustavo Irizarry “The line,” he gestured down the block along the town’s central plaza smelly and expensive to run — Irizarry spent $15,000 on diesel in the six months the grid was down He was often up in the middle of the night to restart the generator because of the risk of losing power to the refrigerators Irizarry is poised to generate his own energy from the sun He’s one of 14 merchants in downtown Adjuntas who have invested in the island’s first community-owned solar microgrids — expected to go live before this summer we saw the vulnerability and the necessity to have an electric system that truly works,” Irizarry said The microgrid project is the latest effort in a grassroots movement to build energy security in Puerto Rico in the form of solar power.  Across the island, groups like Casa Pueblo which first opened in Adjuntas more than 40 years ago have relied on deep roots in the community to create local buy-in and make it an equitable transition “The microgrid is a major step in taking Puerto Rico from the vulnerability of the centralized fossil fuel system to the aspiration that I think we share in Puerto Rico,” said Arturo Massol Deyá “To use [renewable] fuels and generate power at the point of consumption Microgrids power small networks of buildings with energy that’s generated close to where it’s used The systems are typically connected to a central grid but in the case of an outage they can run on “island mode,” relying solely on locally-generated power and battery storage capacity Puerto Rico’s central grid is still in disrepair Puerto Ricans suffer regular outages while spending, on average, 8% of their incomes on electricity according to the Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis (IEEFA) (The average American spends 2.4% on electricity.) “It’s not an opportunity to move away from the centralized system,” said Massol Deyá “It’s the worst thing that could happen to Puerto Rico,” said Massol Deyá of a potential solar tax (PREPA did not respond to requests for comment.) the outages following Maria were a tragedy — but also a chance to extoll the benefits of solar power which had installed its first solar panels in 1999 and had gone off the electric grid entirely just months before Maria and store medications in the center’s refrigerators One neighbor came daily to administer her son’s asthma treatment Members of Puerto Rico’s diaspora got in touch with Casa Pueblo to ask how they could help don’t send us money — send us solar lamps,”  Massol Deyá said where locals charge phones using outlets that source energy from solar arrays resembling trees In 2018, Salt Lake City-based Honnold Foundation which supports solar projects around the world took notice of what was happening in Adjuntas “She told us to think bigger,” said Massol Deyá “[We thought] why not do downtown Adjuntas which is what gives communities in Puerto Rico a sense of identity?” Lucy’s is in one of seven buildings around Adjuntas’ central plaza connected to two half-megawatt battery storage systems that link to the central grid; in the case of an outage the systems can “island,” relying on their own generation and storage By creating a microgrid with other local businesses on the grid Adjuntas could gain energy security during emergencies all while starving the fossil fuel industry by unplugging those with the highest energy demands But as the microgrid idea was taking shape Casa Pueblo’s late co-founder Tinti Deyá Diaz (Massol Deyá’s mother) said she wanted to ensure that lower-income residents would continue to benefit from the solar transition — after all households with solar power were paying about $40 less per month on their energy bills That concern led Irizarry and the 13 other investors in the microgrid to form the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas (ACESA) a non-profit independent utility that reinvests in community solar projects prioritizing homes of the most vulnerable Adjunteños “We each have a commitment to the community,” said Irizarry Their dedication paid off. When Hurricane Fiona hit in 2022, it caused widespread outages but the town’s solar-powered buildings were spared The local fire station became a regional response center intercepting calls from a station in Ponce you know that we are still at risk — we are going to be confronting the same climate change challenges “But we are in a better situation for normal days and we’re better positioned to confront difficult times as a community.” showing that 100% solar power is possible for Puerto Rico.” Other communities on the island are interested in replicating Adjuntas’ model. The Monte Azul Foundation is working to develop a solar microgrid in Maricao director Andrew Hermann visited Adjuntas with Maricao residents “Seeing [the microgrid] in person and talking to business owners that are super pro-microgrid — it’s really assuring the business owners here,” Hermann said “That’s the type of energy that helps build these projects from the ground up.” Teaser photo credit: Courtesy of Casa Pueblo By Rupert Read, Ed Jarvis The recent Climate Change Committee report on the UK government’s lack of preparedness for climate breakdown reveals negligence at a historic scale By Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights Our political discourse is actually far narrower than our total public discourse which makes addressing big problems such as climate change very difficult By Helena Norberg-Hodge, Henry Coleman, Local Futures we need to condemn globalization loud and clear And we need a cohesive strategy that moves us sensibly and sanely in the opposite direction Resilience is a program of Post Carbon Institute a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the world transition away from fossil fuels and build sustainable Reposting Policy | Privacy Policy Join us for Vanguard Philadelphia! Application deadline extended This is your first of three free stories this month Become a free or sustaining member to read unlimited articles so everyone came here to eat,” says owner Gustavo Irizarry emitted dangerous fumes and wasn’t always reliable Irizarry was often up in the middle of the night to restart the generator because of the risk of losing power to the refrigerators He’s one of 14 merchants in downtown Adjuntas who invested in the island’s first community-owned solar microgrids — expected to go live before the height of hurricane season this summer we saw the vulnerability and the necessity to have an electric system that truly works,” Irizarry says The microgrid project is the latest effort in a two decades-long grassroots movement to build energy security in Puerto Rico in the form of solar power Nestled in the central mountains of Puerto Rico Adjuntas is becoming a global model for its equitable transition to clean energy Irizarry had spent $15,000 on diesel in the six months he was without power after Maria the cost of energy kept rising — electric bills were sucking up 30% of Lucy’s operating expenses a longstanding energy independence initiative was paying dividends while providing reliable power in his own backyard A few blocks from the pizza shop, dozens of Adjunteños gathered at another community refuge — this one powered by renewable energy. Environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo installed their first solar panels in 1999 and retrofitted the system to be completely off-grid just months before the hurricane Founded in 1980, Casa Pueblo is well known across the island and among the diaspora, who were sending aid, trying, in part, to make up for the inadequate federal response after the hurricane groups like the Casa Pueblo have relied on deep roots in the community to create local buy-in and lead an equitable transition to energy security “We told people, we don’t want money — send us solar lamps,” says Arturo Massol Deyá, who along with his father leads Casa Pueblo’s efforts in Adjuntas and because he saw an opportunity to educate the community about solar energy Locals started looking to Casa Pueblo for solutions Spread across the roofs of seven buildings in town the island’s first community-owned solar microgrid will be able to power businesses that provide essential services for the community: a pharmacy The microgrids – comprising two half-megawatt battery storage systems connected to 700 solar panels – will be connected to the central grid. In the case of an outage, they can “island,” relying on their own generation and storage Lucy’s Pizza owner Gustavo Irizarry expects to save enough money on energy bills annually to hire two additional employees The systems will enable businesses to be energy oases during prolonged outages and pay — to the nonprofit the owners formed — a lower rate for energy year-round Proceeds will be invested in solar projects for the community starting with the homes of the most vulnerable residents The aim: building resilience in the face of increasing climate impacts The $2 million project was led by Casa Pueblo in partnership with the solar-energy focused Honnold Foundation and local business owners and with the support of University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez It’s the latest effort in Casa Pueblo’s “Energy Insurrection,” a movement to become an entirely solar-powered town and model energy resilience for communities across Puerto Rico “The microgrid is a major step in taking Puerto Rico from the vulnerability of the centralized fossil fuel system to the aspiration that I think we share in Puerto Rico,” says Arturo Massol Deyá “To use local fuels and generate power at the point of consumption “They’re leading by example, showing that 100% solar power is possible for Puerto Rico,” Granholm commented after her visit Leaders attribute their success to an approach that starts with bolstering solar education and access relies on deep knowledge of the specific local needs and builds wealth and resilience through community ownership of clean energy generation Despite $12 billion of federal funding allocated for rebuilding energy infrastructure since Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico-based Máximo Solar hired local women to help install the 700 solar panels that power the microgrid Hundreds of renewable energy advocates, many represented by the movement Queremos Sol (We Want Sun), say the solution is obvious. Rooftop solar alone could potentially provide four times the island’s residential energy demand Despite efforts to transition to renewables and the local government’s goal of sourcing 100% renewable energy percent by 2050 the island currently sources less than 4% from renewables The Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund’s $1 billion approved by Congress last year and managed by the U.S isn’t expected to be allocated until the end of 2023 the DOE team is collecting input from community leaders like those at Casa Pueblo who have been on the ground developing their own solutions for the past six years Since distributing 14,000 solar lamps after Maria, Casa Pueblo has built a public solar park and installed more than 350 solar systems on homes and essential service buildings Homes with solar are saving an average of $40 per month on energy bills and were able to maintain power when Fiona hit last fall These ongoing projects have given locals the opportunity to see the benefits of solar energy firsthand and garnered support for the microgrid leaders at Casa Pueblo were considering the potential impacts of solarizing businesses in downtown Adjuntas — providing energy security in the heart of the community while disrupting the fossil fuel industry by unplugging those with the highest energy demands business owners like Izairry were looking for alternatives Casa Pueblo’s late co-founder Tinti Deyá Diaz wasn’t totally on board; she wanted to ensure lower-income residents would continue to benefit from the solar transition Her concern led the 14 businesses owners who will receive power from the microgrid to form the nonprofit Asociación Comunitaria Energia Solar Adjuntas (Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas essentially operating as an independent utility They’ll pay 25 cents per kWh to themselves about 10 cents cheaper than what they’d pay the utility After covering maintenance and operation costs proceeds will be reinvested in community solar projects It’s a model many communities on the island are interested in replicating. Last October, Casa Pueblo organized a community meeting to bring together about 30 groups working on solar projects on the island. Attendees included folks working on a microgrid project in Maricao They’re also aiming to solarize local businesses It hasn’t been easy to get some business owners to commit to a 20-year project (the approximate life of the panels and batteries), says Andrew Hermann, director of Monte Azul Foundation When residents of the mountain town visited Casa Pueblo “seeing [the microgrid] in person and talking to business owners that are super pro-microgrid — it’s really assuring the business owners here,” Hermann says “That’s the type of energy that helps build these projects from the ground up.” At the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers are developing architecture and algorithms to make the Adjuntas microgrids more reliable and resilient Adjuntas is also the site of microgrid resilience research by scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in collaboration with University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez and other U.S “What happens if you lose 30-40% of the [power] generation in one solar array due to a hurricane?” says Maximiliano Ferrari an engineer at the Oak Ridge lab and among the leaders of the research team The team is working to develop a technology to connect the two microgrids — which they call a “microgrid orchestrator” — enabling them to share energy if one is compromised. Referred to as networking or clustering, this nascent technology is expected by many in the industry to be an important component of future microgrids Ferrari says the project in Adjuntas is a perfect — and rare — testing site because the microgrids are so close together The team plans to start testing the microgrid orchestrator this summer The project still faces the challenge of connecting to the central grid Only time will tell how the goals of ACESA will play out in reality Massol Deyá acknowledges mistakes along the way — for one the project was costlier than it could have been “But it’s the first time; you have to do it to have that experience and use that to help others,” says Massol Deyá “We share what we have done — the challenges The developments in Adjuntas have already been put to the test with Hurricane Fiona A Category 1 storm when it hit in the fall of 2022, just days after the five-year anniversary of Maria, Fiona caused prolonged outages across the island the solar-powered fire station was able to respond to local needs and even intercept calls from the station in Ponce Casa Pueblo’s solar radio broadcast was uninterrupted; remote workers gathered at the solar park to plug in; many residents with medical conditions were able to continue treatments thanks to the panels on their roofs one family posted on Casa Pueblo’s social media thanking them for the solar system that allowed their daughter to continue her dialysis during and after the storm thousands lined the streets of Adjuntas for Casa Pueblo’s second annual rally for solar energy thousands lined the streets of Adjuntas for Casa Pueblo’s Marcha del Sol to show support for solar energy and celebrate the completion of the microgrid “Energía so-lar — pa’ un mejor país!” they shouted “When you see the entire landscape, you know that we are still at risk — we are going to be confronting the same climate change challenges, hurricanes, earthquakes,” says Massol Deyá. “But I can say, and it was tested with Fiona that Adjuntas is in a better position to confront these realities.” This article is co-published with Nexus Media News and made possible by a grant from the Open Society Foundations Katherine Rapin is a freelance climate journalist based in Puerto Rico Magazine and Yale Environment 360 among others She's currently focused on stories about climate adaptation resilience and humans restoring relationships with the natural world View all → and support the spread of solutions that liberate cities Become a free or sustaining member to continue reading Or you can join for free—because we never want to create a financial barrier to information about fostering greater equity U.S. donations are tax-deductible minus the value of thank-you gifts. Questions? Learn more about our membership options Free gifts cannot be shipped to locations outside of the United States All members are automatically signed-up to our email newsletter You can unsubscribe with one-click at any time Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is preparing to demonstrate a new microgrid orchestrator in Puerto Rico that will ensure the reliability of electrical service even if parts of the microgrid are damaged The new tool will establish a network of microgrids that can be managed as a single cluster – creating a grid of microgrids if one microgrid’s solar array is damaged in a storm the orchestrator can direct another connected microgrid to export power to the affected area “I don’t know of a microgrid controller anywhere that can communicate and coordinate with another controller,” said Ben Ollis “We’re designing an architecture for multi-microgrid controls so any number of microgrids can operate independently but share information to an orchestrator that will predict when switching ORNL was awarded nearly $4 million from the U.S Department of Energy Solar Technologies Office in 2020 to develop the tool a remote mountain village in western Puerto Rico leaving the community without power for more than six months a group of small business owners determined that a microgrid was the solution that would ensure reliable power when the island’s power grid could not Adjuntas has two decentralized community-owned microgrids in its town square the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas and the Honnold Foundation The Honnold Foundation was established in 2012 by professional rock climber Alex Honnold who is perhaps best known for making the first ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes or other safety equipment (immortalized in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo) His foundation works to reduce global poverty by expanding equitable access to solar energy through community-scale solar projects The Adjuntas microgrid project is powered by nearly 700 solar photovoltaic panels sited on the roofs of 13 local businesses as well as a 1.107-MWh battery energy storage system Designed to withstand hurricane force winds and support the community for up to 10 days in the aftermath of a major storm, the project was awarded the highest recognition prize at this year’s Microgrid Knowledge Greater Good Awards which is in the final stages of hardware testing will allow the two microgrids to “talk” to each other ensuring that the town’s residents have access to power and critical services in the wake of future natural disasters It is expected that the orchestrator will be deployed in Adjuntas within the next year the mountain town of Castañer is also working to shore up its energy resilience The community is collaborating with Texas A&M University on ways to better manage and withstand future natural disasters Hurricane Maria left Castañer without power for six months “This community is highly susceptible to electric outages stemming from Puerto Rico’s fragile power infrastructure,” said Zheng O’Neill associate professor of mechanical engineering at Texas A&M The resilience plan drawn up by O’Neill and his team includes the installation of solar panels battery energy storage systems and two multiproperty microgrids “The proposed solution provides a communitywide low-cost sensing and control system that can coordinate different distributed generation controls and share information among stakeholders through the smartphone app to improve community resilience,” O’Neill said “The technology can be scaled and replicated in many other similar rural underserved communities with multiple solar panels and battery storage.” the community and the project developers are excited about the benefits that will be provided by the microgrids – and especially the orchestrator “ORNL deploying this kind of controller system is going to be a really powerful tool for the community,” said Cynthia Arellano project coordinator for the Honnold Foundation the orchestrator technology could vastly improve electric reliability for grid edge communities around the world “The orchestrator includes a framework of algorithms that can be expanded and deployed to many microgrids at any site,” Ollis said “I want to see a future where we have hundreds of microgrids working together to protect critical infrastructure at local Track news about microgrids. Subscribe to the free Microgrid Knowledge Newsletter. I work as a writer and special projects editor for Microgrid Knowledge. I have over 30 years of writing experience, working with a variety of companies in the renewable energy, electric vehicle and utility sector, as well as those in the entertainment, education, and financial industries. I have a BFA in Media Arts from the University of Arizona and a MBA from the University of Denver. Antero and his wife, Luz, moved into their home in the Adjuntas municipality of Puerto Rico nearly 30 years ago. Together, they shared countless memories under its roof and raised their three children inside its walls. But when Hurricane Maria barreled across the island in 2017, the couple’s treasured family home was almost destroyed.   “The building was standing. Thank God,” says 62-year-old Antero, in his native Spanish, as he recalls inspecting his home after the hurricane. “Later, I continued checking and searching, and I noticed the severe damage to the interior. And the roof was so weakened it could no longer withstand even a breeze.” After the storm, communication was challenging, especially in rural areas, like Antero and Luz’s neighborhood in Adjuntas. Vans with loudspeakers drove through severely damaged areas sharing information about Habitat’s home repair program. The couple believed Habitat could be the answer to their prayers and applied. Sixty-four-year-old Luz says she felt like, “the happiest woman in the world,” when she heard they’d been approved. When the repairs took place, it had been more than three years since the couple’s home was damaged by the storm. During their repairs, Antero and Luz’s home received a new roof and kitchen cabinetry, waterproofing of the concrete roof, replacement of an aluminum door and interior wood doors, general electric work, and repair of their balcony and stairs as well as interior and exterior paint. Antero also used his skills as an artisan to help personalize some of the repairs, including purchasing and installing trim for the windows, and he installed a new gas stove. “We live more confidently now,” says Antero. “We no longer have leaks. When I saw how the house was and seeing it now, it’s like a load that has been taken off. We even enjoy downpours now because we know we’ll stay warm and dry.” The couple loves being able to have family over again and looks forward to spending many more joyous occasions with their children and two grandchildren. “Home is happiness,” Antero says. © 2025 Habitat for Humanity® International. All rights reserved. “Habitat for Humanity®” is a registered service mark owned by Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat® is a service mark of Habitat for Humanity International. Habitat for Humanity® International is a tax-exempt 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Climate-fueled disasters have ravaged Puerto Rico’s electrical system several times in recent years many people there are fed up with how vulnerable the grid remains In December, Congress greenlit $1 billion to "improve the resilience of Puerto Rico's electric grid," on top of $11.4 billion already committed to the government-owned utility for recovery after Hurricane Fiona Fiona knocked out electricity across the territory for days — weeks in some areas — exposing how brittle Puerto Rico’s grid remains nearly six years after the unprecedented damage of Hurricane Maria in 2017 Many on the island want to break free from that cycle of destruction by building a decentralized grid powered largely by solar energy But activists say the government isn’t doing enough to hasten that transition One vision for the future of Puerto Rico’s grid is in the small town of Adjuntas 14 businesses and two apartment buildings run on solar power even as the sun sinks behind the mountains The main square in the mountain town of Adjuntas Adjuntas was one of the last towns to get help after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and has since developed a solar microgrid system with the guidance of the Honnold Foundation and Casa Pueblo That’s thanks to two banks of batteries tucked behind a furniture store and a defunct gas station that store the power generated by Adjuntas’ rooftop solar panels during the day Combined with some computers that orchestrate the local flow of electricity this is a microgrid — a self-reliant mini-utility run independently of the island-wide grid The batteries are built to withstand extreme weather project manager for the Honnold Foundation a nonprofit that helped Adjuntas build its microgrid “These guys are built for all conditions,” Arellano says They’re built for Puerto Rico hurricane conditions.” a local community organization that has run on solar power for years Casa Pueblo kept its lights on after Hurricane Maria and became a community hub for people waiting weeks for the island’s grid operators to restore power Local business owners took after Casa Pueblo’s example and decided to not just get their own solar panels but to pool their resources and share electricity They formed a nonprofit to manage the microgrid like a mini-utility and even decided to charge themselves for the power — $.25 per kilowatt-hour to start but we are going to charge ourselves for the power that we are consuming We are going to reinvest that money into our own community,’” Arellano says operating and just owning the entire system.” A flag reading “solar village” hangs from the patio of Lucy’s Pizza one of the businesses in Adjuntas on the new microgrid Gustavo Irizarry is president of the newly formed Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas He also runs a local pizza shop called Lucy’s He says the microgrid gives him a sense of security and spirit of community because they know there will be work,” Irizarry says “That’s where good will comes in and where the community is able to unite are competing because one sells furniture more cheaply than the other but they both get electricity from the same roof That’s why it is important to share energy because the project is making a difference and making us a community.” There are lots of communities in Puerto Rico who want what Adjuntas has La Margarita is one of them. It's a neighborhood in the town of Salinas that experiences frequent flooding and power outages, especially after hurricanes. Many residents are elderly. Some live off a few hundred dollars a month from Social Security. And emergency preparedness is on everyone's mind here, says Wanda Ríos, president of the neighborhood association “One of our missions was to have a resilient community,” Ríos says we have to have a resilient energy system.” they installed solar panels on the community center but Ríos wants the whole neighborhood to form a microgrid to better prepare for the next storm “You can have a generator for maybe two or three hours and then you run out of gas The neighborhood association recently won a $30,000 grant from the federal Department of Energy to install more solar panels And Ríos says the Puerto Rican government is too slow to certify groups like hers as energy cooperatives so they can access other types of financing is president of The Asociación de Residentes de la Margarita (ARLM) in Salinas The community organization formed in response to flooding in their neighborhood and is working to install solar panels on their homes (Chris Bentley/Here & Now) When I ask her what the one thing she needs is Everybody is saying that they have the money for renewable energy But the reality is they haven’t given me anything There is no place where we are supposed to go,” she says but we need justice for these elderly people And somehow we’re going to figure out how we’re going to do it.” Puerto Rico has committed to generating 100%t of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050 but so far it’s failing to hit its benchmarks “The change isn’t happening fast enough,” says Ruth Santiago a lawyer and activist who lives in Salinas She says the government should focus on people who can’t afford the upfront costs to install solar themselves “We’re developing a separate and unequal electric system here where poor communities that have less access to the financing or the loans or there’s no public funding for these kinds of installations for low-income Santiago says fixing the grid is "a matter of life and death," citing studies that have estimated prolonged power outages after Hurricane Maria led to excess deaths But just adding renewable energy is not enough Puerto Rico’s electricity is generated at power plants far from the main population center in San Juan Whether it’s generated by a wind farm or a coal plant that electricity has to travel long distances over power lines through the island’s central mountain range Santiago says the federal government's message so far has been conflicted. The Department of Energy has $1 billion to invest in renewable energy on the island. But in a call out to contractors issued last week the Army Corps of Engineers said some of FEMA's $5 billion in disaster relief funding would go to new natural gas and oil-burning power plants for "temporary emergency power" in Puerto Rico “We’ve got to get out of this vicious cycle of depending on the centralized grid that gets knocked down with every hurricane or every other hurricane,” she says “It’s a matter of the government listening to communities and people who are aware of the need for this transformation.” the power company in charge of Puerto Rico’s electricity transmission says it’s “inaccurate” to say they’re rebuilding the grid the same as it was And we are adding a number of additional points in the system to make sure that if something happens to one part of the electrical system the entire island is not going to go dark,” she says the design of the system is completely different.” the group is “committed” to bringing online more solar and some microgrids Battery arrays for the microgrid system in Adjuntas “I would say that the toughest part of this industry at this point is the supply chain,” she says “Equipment that used to be delivered in 16 months Another challenge is coordination between the myriad public and private operators of Puerto Rico’s grid including the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority which is bankrupt and still restructuring more than $9 billion in debt says Sergio Marxuach of the nonpartisan Center for a New Economy in San Juan “The people of Puerto Rico have been waiting for this for five and a half years Maxuach points out the Financial Oversight and Management Board that runs Puerto Rico’s budget approved contracts for hundreds of megawatts worth of renewable energy development a year ago but the Puerto Rico Power Authority has yet to approve them so work can begin “They have a lot of excuses as to why they haven’t done it,” Maxuach says “but the bottom line is they haven’t done it.” which Marxuach says could attract more private investment He calls the recent influx of money from the federal government the “opportunity of a generation.” “It’s definitely a turning point,” Marxuach says “Decisions that are being made today are going to have an impact on our children and grandchildren here on the island It would be sad if we lose this opportunity In October, President Biden tapped Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to lead what he called "a supercharged effort" to build a more resilient power grid for Puerto Rico Granholm has traveled to the territory several times since "I think Puerto Rico recognizes this moment is a huge opportunity because there's federal investment and now we've got to make it happen," Granholm tells Here & Now "We recognize that we're building on an old fossil fuel system there is some investment in rebuilding the grid so that people can have power today but there is a much greater emphasis and desire to see the build out of this clean energy future." “I don’t want Puerto Rico just to be an experiment,” Granholm says And Puerto Rico could be an example for the rest of the country.” The Energy Department is also helping develop several microgrid projects two smaller islands off Puerto Rico’s eastern shore the islands were cut off from the rest of the territory with no regular transportation for weeks The underwater electrical cable that connected them to Puerto Rico was damaged and they were left only with diesel generators Today, there's still no microgrid, but Culebra is on its way to becoming the first all-solar island in the hemisphere Thanks to seven solar panels on his roof and a battery system on the front patio his house produces more energy than it consumes so he’s selling back to the grid on the main island The low energy bill — just $4 a month in fees but what he really values is the peace of mind “Knowing that no matter what happens on the big island whatever happens with the power generation Nelson Meléndez with his rooftop solar panels in Culebra His system was installed as part of a program by Fundación Colibrí and the Environmental Defense Fund to bring solar to about 10% of the island's buildings Other homes have paid for their own solar panels which means tiny Culebra is farther along in its goal of 100%  renewable electricity than the main island “I think a very important thing that our project here in Culebra is doing is giving power to the people — literally and figuratively talking,” says Braulio Quintero EDF’s director for energy transition in Puerto Rico “It’s going to lower the carbon footprint of Culebra And I think even more powerful is that a successful project here will demonstrate to other islands in the Caribbean and around the world what could be done.” In that way Quintero says decentralizing Puerto Rico’s power generation through microgrids and renewable energy is not about going it alone or getting rid of the grid altogether but about building an alternative within it “The model that is in Puerto Rico right now is this investor-owned utility which is capturing the most clients and selling the most power which is contrary to developing a 100%renewable energy island by 2050,” says Quintero and the community taking agency and power over their energy situation.” This article was originally published on WBUR.org. Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone Listen to the OPB News live stream (opens new window)Streaming Now An official website of the United States government Microgrids are small electric grids that can operate while disconnected from the main grid Learn how a new tool that networks multiple microgrids with solar-plus-storage together can lead to community resilience Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy The Adjuntas microgrids rely on these two large energy storage units designed by ELM To ensure continual power during an outage, communities and local energy planners can install microgrids, which have their own power sources and can deliver renewable energy, like solar, to strengthen community resilience there is a tool designed to connect and coordinate multiple microgrids to maintain reliable electric service integrate more solar energy and potentially other types of renewable energy and reduce the need for backup diesel generators which allow the microgrids to work independently because they can store energy and release it when it is needed If the main grid goes down during a severe storm microgrids can enable a steady supply of electricity to the critical facilities In 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) awarded nearly $4 million to a team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop an optimized solution to manage distribution of electricity within a network of solar-powered microgrids The team developed a microgrid orchestrator—software designed to manage the exchange of power between multiple microgrids within a network The team is in the final stages of hardware testing before demonstrating the microgrid orchestrator in the mountain town of Adjuntas Solar panels on top of Lucy’s Pizza in Adjuntas Puerto Rico are part of newly-installed community-operated microgrids that will enable 14 businesses to provide emergency services to the community Two community-owned microgrids will soon provide solar power to Adjuntas even when blackouts occur in other parts of the island Adjuntas did not have power for six months because of Hurricane Maria in 2017 Local community organization Casa Pueblo partnered with the nonprofit Honnold Foundation to install the town square microgrids to ensure that Adjuntas residents have access to critical services in the aftermath of future natural disasters When Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico in September 2022 previously-installed Adjuntas microgrid that serves Casa Pueblo kept the power on for nine days when other parts of the island went dark Researchers will work to advance the orchestrator’s capabilities to extend electric service as long as possible for future outages The success of this microgrid orchestrator could result in the creation of microgrid networks in communities across the nation to increase resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support energy independence and security Learn more about SETO’s systems integration research and development Puerto Rico — where Hurricane Maria left some without power for a year — two soon-to-be community microgrids mean so much to the town it plans to hold a parade to celebrate its activation March 18 the microgrids are expected to lower energy costs cut use of diesel and help create generational wealth a nonprofit organization that focuses on clean energy and sustainability and operates a microgrid of its own The solar microgrids have been more than four years in the making and have been successful because numerous community members equipment donors and the Honnold Foundation all worked together to create resilience for the community which helped fund the microgrids and appointed an on-the-ground project manager is a nonprofit organization based in Salt Lake City Utah that partners with communities to advance equitable solar access With 187 kW of solar and about 1.1 MW of storage the $1 million grid-tied community microgrids were designed to be hurricane-proof and to keep electricity flowing for up to 10 days for 14 businesses during a power outage The microgrids are located on two sides of the town square a configuration that was less expensive than creating one larger microgrid “We realized protesting wasn’t enough,” Massol-Deya said with the nonprofit Casa Pueblo working to install solar in the community which is a small mountainside town in the central portion of the island that’s known for farming coffee and attracting nature-loving tourists the town was producing more solar than it was using and wanted to move toward energy independence the town was inspired by an existing smaller microgrid that powers Casa Pueblo de Adjuntas with 13 kW of solar and a 38-kWh battery When Hurricane Maria — wiped out much of the island’s electrical infrastructure in 2017 the Casa Pueblo microgrid kept the electricity flowing and powered a radio station while serving community members who needed medical help The Casa Pueblo microgrid was developed out of a realization that protecting the land from gas pipelines and mining — the nonprofit’s central activities — wasn’t enough The community needed alternatives to fossil fuels Casa Pueblo wanted to move forward and create more energy independence for the community Honnold Foundation approached Casa Pueblo and offered to partner on a project the two organizations decided to engage with businesses located in the town square had the highest electrical loads in the town and offered goods and services needed during climate challenges The partners decided they needed an on-the-ground project manager and Cynthia Arellano took on that role for the Honnold Foundation “the community came together and said they were looking for an energy alternative but the community didn’t even know what one was That was the start of this beautiful project,” said Arellano Casa Pueblo had worked with other foundations This is why these microgrids have been completed; the foundation has been critical to the success of this project.” In addition having a project manager helped relieve tension among community members and provided for shared responsibility The University of Puerto Rico also joined the effort; its law clinic provided legal help Honnold Foundation was clear that it didn’t just plan on creating the microgrids and that meant it was important to ensure the community had a say in every step the partners took the businesses decided they wanted to have a backup rather than relying solely on the microgrids Some of them opted to be able to choose between utility power and the microgrids Any business owner can switch between the two The businesses also agreed to pay for the energy as a group and created a nonprofit to manage the power Their payments will cover operation and maintenance costs with the remainder going into an emergency fund for social reinvestment meant to help foster wealth for future generations the funds will help low-income families attain energy independence with solar The money will also help repair roofs damaged during storms Serving community members during disasters is an important goal of the project The hope is that the microgrid-powered businesses will act as a community hub during storms and outages Cost savings are expected to be a major benefit Price for power from the utility is about 35 cents/kWh The price for power from the microgrids is estimated to be about 25 cents/kWh — although that was set a year ago and may change Of the six people who installed the photovoltaics “That was something we wanted to push forward electric truck maker Rivian planned to provide its second-life electric truck batteries but that plan proved to be too complicated “Today we received the battery system,” said Arellano on Monday The batteries arriving makes all the challenges worth it.” they included the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain issues “We had a lot of stress and trial and error while we were learning how to make a community-driven microgrid a reality,” she said When the battery system is installed and the microgrids are up and running the project will have an important impact on the town “It is an example of hope that something can be done in practical terms and change our reality It’s a game changer and we are very proud of it,” said Massol-Deya “We’re having this event on March 18 to raise awareness and let other people know there are energy alternatives and microgrids should be part of the solution to address the energy crisis,” Massol-Deya said Interested in community microgrids? Join us for a special session on the topic at the annual Microgrid Knowledge conference, this year titled Microgrid 2023: Lights On! Registration is now open for the May 16-17 event in Anaheim I focus on the West Coast and Midwest. Email me at [email protected] I’ve been writing about energy for more than 20 years I’m also a former stringer for the Platts/McGraw-Hill energy publications I began my career covering energy and environment for The Cape Cod Times I’ve received numerous writing awards from national including Pacific Northwest Writers Association I first became interested in energy as a student at Wesleyan University where I helped design and build a solar house Linkedin: LisaEllenCohn Facebook: Energy Efficiency Markets Anastasia Moloney Aerial view of solar microgrid in Adjuntas Ricardo Arduengo/Honnold Foundation/Handout via Thomson Reuters Foundation As Puerto Rico seeks to improve power grid wiped out by hurricanes Maria and Fiona can solar microgrids help keep the lights on When Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico and decimated the Caribbean island's power grid five years ago the lights stayed on in one building in the mountain town of Adjuntas The Casa Pueblo environmental group had equipped its Adjuntas headquarters with solar panels and storage batteries - a model of green self-sufficiency that inspired the organization to launch a pioneering community-run microgrid in the town "We want to democratize the generation of energy .. we're pushing from the bottom up," said Arturo Massol-Deyá which last month finished installing nearly 700 rooftop solar panels as part of the microgrid initiative.    The panels supply 14 local shops including a pharmacy and bakery and feed into a standalone network that can operate independently of the island's creaky fossil fuel-powered grid - providing a backup during lengthy power outages after storms The microgrid will also be hooked up to the national network with any power surplus helping to reduce the community's electricity bills "It's a pioneering example of what could be the new energy set-up in the country," Massol-Deyá said of the community-run and owned initiative The project has been hailed as an example of locally led resilience in the face of more extreme weather events including hurricanes and of a growing grassroots movement to put energy production in citizens' hands "A local community putting up the resource (solar power and battery storage) to be able to sustain themselves during problematic times - it's a big deal," said Tim McJunkin a researcher at the Idaho National Laboratory He said the Adjuntas initiative was a "starting point" to scale up similar initiatives on the island, which the U.S. Department of Energy said in February would receive $1 billion to improve energy resilience among poor communities - including through solar microgrid projects The investment could also help Puerto Rico achieve climate change goals that include moving to 40% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2050 Extreme weather linked to climate change is giving impetus  to efforts to develop alternative electricity sources fueled by renewable energy particularly in remote and rural communities that are often worse-affected by hurricanes and power outages U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told Reuters last month the transformation of Puerto Rico's grid to solar and other renewables was "a question of life and death" after the long outages caused by Maria solar panels backed up with battery storage can provide essential power to keep medicines refrigerated potentially saving lives during hurricanes About a 30-minute drive from Adjuntas through Puerto Rico's central mountain range lies the small where another microgrid came to residents' rescue when Fiona ripped through the island in September The storm caused an island-wide power outage but batteries storing solar energy generated from about 120 rooftop solar panels in the town kicked in and provided electricity to five businesses including food shops and two homes It was the only microgrid up and running before who heads the Hydroelectric Cooperative of the Mountain the group that owns and operates the microgrid launched in 2021 The cooperative is also working to develop the island's first microgrid straddling different municipalities powered by both hydroelectric and solar energy But hurdles remain for communities wanting to develop microgrids in Puerto Rico and other hurricane-prone parts of the Caribbean and Latin America - from high setup costs to challenges in accessing funding and technical expertise While the cost of solar panels has declined, battery storage is still expensive, said Cynthia Arellano, project manager at the Honnold Foundation which donated about $2 million for the Adjuntas microgrid "We hope to be able to replicate this in the future at a lower cost," said Arellano an engineer who has been working on the Adjuntas project since 2019 environmentalists and nonprofits in Latin America are backing renewable energy microgrids as a way for remote communities including Indigenous Amazon rainforest groups Successfully expanding such initiatives will depend on providing communities with the proper support and training such as technical writing and fundraising skills and legal guidance "We need to focus on capacity-building for low-income communities paying and supporting leaders while they get these projects off the ground," he said Training for the Castañer project included information on how to make solar panels more storm-resistant and how batteries work nonprofit Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) office in Puerto Rico that has been supporting the cooperative Other challenges include energy sharing with other homes and grids as well as constraints with solar power on cloudy days and the need to have maintenance and technical assistance to hand "Moving to a PV (photovoltaic) microgrid needs to a part of a solution but it cannot be all of the solution," he said (Reporting by Anastasia Moloney in Bogota; Editing by Helen Popper.) Context is powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation Newsroom Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles These links open on reuters.com By providing your email, you agree to our Privacy Policy What does a Donald Trump presidency mean for LGBTQ+ rights? Indigenous forest peoples can finally control nature finance Inside Trump's $6mn deportee deal with El Salvador mega-prison Half London councils found using Chinese surveillance tech Portable internet helps Asia's scam centres bypass blackouts How is Bangladesh preparing farmers for increasingly salty soil? Context is a media platform created by the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We provide news and analysis that contextualises how critical issues and events affect ordinary people, society and the environment. Find out more. The Workforce Disclosure Initiative is an investor-backed project to improve the quantity & quality of corporate workforce data via an annual survey & engagement process Trust Conference is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s flagship annual event taking place in the heart of London each year TrustLaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service facilitating free legal assistance to NGOs and social enterprises around the world Leer este artículo en español Listen to a Carbon Copy podcast about this story Puerto Rico — A bright yellow building with bold green trim hums with activity in Caguas a city sprawled across a mountain valley south of San Juan volunteers chop vegetables and cook rice for community meals visitors browse racks of free and discounted produce retirees soak in calming music as they take part in a stress-relief workshop The community services on offer here at the Centro de Apoyo Mutuo are made possible by the 24 solar panels mounted on the rooftop Two lithium-ion batteries the size of suitcases are kept in a windowless storage room allowing the center to stay open on cloudy days and in the evenings The building doesn’t use any electricity from the utility grid Nearly five years ago, after Hurricane Maria tore a path of devastation across the U.S territory and all but destroyed Puerto Rico’s electricity system residents in Caguas reclaimed what had for decades been an abandoned Social Security office scrubbed the walls and began providing food and supplies to neighbors.  “This was a space that wasn’t serving the people and now the community has taken it over,” Marisel Robles just weeks before the start of the next Atlantic hurricane season Robles guides me up a thin metal ladder to the rooftop of the one-story building pushing aside tree branches sagging with brown seed pods a volunteer and local solar installer The three rows of solar panels form a ​“mosaic” of different makes and models all of them donated by nonprofit organizations Read this article in English Traducción por Maria Virginia Olano Puerto Rico — Un edificio de color amarillo brillante con molduras verdes bulle con actividad en Caguas una ciudad que se extiende sobre un valle montañoso al sur de San Juan los voluntarios cortan verduras y cocinan arroz para las comidas comunitarias los visitantes examinan estantes de frutas y verduras frijoles enlatados y aceite de cocina que se ofrecen gratuitos o con descuento los jubilados se sumergen en música relajante como parte de un taller para aliviar el estrés Los servicios comunitarios que se ofrecen aquí en el Centro de Apoyo Mutuo son posibles gracias a los 24 paneles solares instalados en la azotea El edificio no utiliza electricidad de la red pública pero tiene almacenadas dos baterías de iones de litio las cuales permiten que el centro permanezca abierto y con energía en días nublados y por la noche.  Hace casi cinco años, después de que el huracán María devastara el territorio de EE los residentes de Caguas recuperaron lo que había sido fregaron las paredes y comenzaron a suplir alimentos y suministros a los vecinos “Era un espacio que no servía a la gente y ahora la comunidad se ha apoderado de ello” en un bochornoso día a principios de mayo pocas semanas antes del inicio de la próxima temporada de huracanes en el Atlántico Robles me guía por una escalera de metal delgada apartando las ramas de los árboles con vainas de semillas marrones hasta llegar a la azotea del edificio de una planta un voluntario e instalador solar local Las tres filas de paneles solares forman un ​“mosaico” de diferentes marcas y modelos todos donados por organizaciones sin ánimo de lucro Leer este artículo en español  Canary Media’s chart of the week translates crucial data about the clean energy transition into a visual format. Canary thanks Natural Power for its support of this feature Nearly five years after Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico, the island’s centralized electricity system remains plagued with problems. Fed up with routine outages, sweeping blackouts and damaging voltage surges, many Puerto Ricans are forging their own path to energy security, as Canary Media reports in an in-depth feature this week Residents had installed more than 315 megawatts of cumulative rooftop solar capacity as of the beginning of 2022 — without much encouragement from the government or utility Some 42,000 solar installations were connected to the grid as of this January — more than eight times the number at the end of 2016, the year before hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the island, according to a recent analysis That figure only includes projects enrolled in net metering a program under which the utility pays households and businesses for the clean electricity their solar panels provide to the main grid Thousands more projects have enrolled since January or are in the process of enrolling And thousands of additional systems are operating but aren’t counted in the official statistics because they don’t participate in net metering people decide the permitting process and lengthy wait times aren’t worth the hassle or the bottom-up movement to transform our energy landscape,” says Arturo Massol Deyá a professor at the University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez campus and the executive director of Casa Pueblo Massol Deyá co-authored the recent analysis of net-metering customers in Puerto Rico consortium that operates Puerto Rico’s publicly owned transmission and distribution system About 70 percent of the total rooftop solar capacity is installed on people’s houses That’s enough to meet about 5.5 percent of the residential sector’s overall electricity demand in Puerto Rico Read this article in English Los gráficos semanales de Canary Media traducen datos cruciales sobre la transición a la energía limpia en un formato visual. Canary le agradece a Natural Power por su apoyo en esta serie.  los residentes habían instalado más de 315 megavatios de capacidad solar distribuída en Puerto Rico y lo lograron sin mucho apoyo del gobierno o de la empresa de servicios públicos Unas 42.000 instalaciones solares fueron conectadas a la red en enero de 2022, más de ocho veces la cantidad que había a fines de 2016, el año anterior a que los huracanes Irma y María azotaran la isla, según un análisis reciente Esa cifra sólo incluye proyectos inscritos en la medición neta un programa bajo el cual la empresa de servicios públicos paga a los hogares y empresas por la electricidad limpia que sus paneles solares proporcionan a la red principal Miles de proyectos más se han inscrito desde enero Y miles de sistemas adicionales están operando pero no se cuentan en las estadísticas oficiales porque no participan en la medición neta las personas deciden que el proceso de permisos y los largos tiempos de espera no valen la pena “Llamamos a esto una insurrección energética o el movimiento de abajo hacia arriba para transformar nuestro panorama energético” profesor del recinto de Mayagüez de la Universidad de Puerto Rico y director ejecutivo de Casa Pueblo Massol Deyá es coautor del reciente análisis de clientes de medición neta en Puerto Rico que utiliza principalmente datos de la Administración de Información de Energía de EE el consorcio privado canadiense-estadounidense que opera el sistema de transmisión y distribución de propiedad pública de Puerto Rico Alrededor del 70 por ciento de la capacidad solar total en techos está instalada en hogares suficiente para satisfacer alrededor del 5.5 por ciento de la demanda total de electricidad del sector residencial en Puerto Rico On The Carbon Copy podcast this week: Puerto Rico’s grid was decimated by Hurricane Maria many hoped that Puerto Rico’s new grid could be built around solar and batteries instead of centralized gas coal and oil plants connected via far-flung transmission lines But that’s not how the recovery played out Puerto Rico still relies heavily on centralized fossil fuels Residents continue to experience protracted blackouts and the island’s utility is still facing accusations of mismanagement But a bottom-up movement has emerged supporting tens of thousands of rooftop solar and battery installations These systems are being installed with minimal support from the government.  Will this distributed energy help make Puerto Rico more resilient Or will the island lock in more fossil fuels We’ll speak with Canary Media reporter Maria Gallucci, who just got back from a reporting trip there. Read her feature The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media The Carbon Copy is supported by Nextracker. Nextracker’s technology platform has delivered more than 50 gigawatts of zero-emission solar power plants across the globe. Nextracker is developing a data-driven framework to become the most sustainable solar tracker company in the world — with a focus on a truly transparent supply chain. Visit nextracker.com/sustainability to learn more The Carbon Copy is supported by Scale Microgrid Solutions, your comprehensive source for all distributed energy financing. Distributed generation can be complex. Scale makes financing it easy. Visit scalecapitalsolutions.com to learn more Canary Media made its cable TV debut last week when reporter Maria Gallucci joined a Weather Channel program to discuss her in-depth coverage of Puerto Rico’s rooftop solar boom. Gallucci sat down remotely with meteorologists Stephanie Abrams and Jordan Steele, who host the channel’s climate-focused weekday show Pattrn Nearly five years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and all but destroyed the island’s centralized electricity system small-scale solar systems are taking off across the U.S With an eye toward this year’s Atlantic hurricane season the three discussed how Puerto Ricans are becoming more resilient by producing and storing their own electricity at home — and how much work is still needed to keep the island’s 3.2 million residents from experiencing future crippling blackouts.  Leer este artículo en español leaving patients and staff in the dark Puerto Rico continues to contend with a fragile electricity system nearly five years after Hurricane Maria battered the U.S. territory and all but destroyed its centralized grid. Despite billions of federal recovery dollars and post-hurricane repairs, residents still endure routine outages, widespread disruptions and soaring electricity rates The uncertainty has prompted many of Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million people to take matters into their own hands Tens of thousands of rooftop solar arrays with backup battery systems operate across the island allowing households and businesses to run their lights and appliances even when the grid goes down Now solar advocates say that there’s a way for the island’s state-run utility to help harness these resilient renewable systems and ease energy woes across the island After a series of delays, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) seems to be on the cusp of approving plans for the island’s first virtual power plant A virtual power plant (VPP) is a sprawling network of solar-and-battery systems that are remotely connected and controlled using software and digital communications networks The idea is to use these many individual installations to help reduce power interruptions and fluctuations on the main electric grid that serves the wider population.  PREPA produces and procures the island’s electricity supply operates the transmission and distribution system.) In February 2021 PREPA solicited proposals for 150 megawatts’ worth of virtual power plants as part of a larger solicitation for renewable energy and battery storage projects the process has moved forward in fits and starts.  “Puerto Rico has this existing, constantly growing [energy] resource that could help prevent blackouts for everyone,” said Javier Rúa-Jovet, a leading proponent of VPPs and the chief policy officer for the Solar and Energy Storage Association of Puerto Rico ​“What we’re saying is to tap into that untapped resource.” Virtual power plants are quickly catching on in the United States and worldwide as utilities grapple with stressed-out grids and as the costs of clean energy technologies come down over time a VPP operator can direct individual power systems to simultaneously feed electricity directly to the grid whenever power is needed such as during periods of high power demand by using lots of small systems right where people use electricity utilities can offset or postpone the need to build large monolithic power plants and long high-voltage transmission lines In California, energy companies are deploying solar-and-battery VPPs to help prevent rolling blackouts in a state wracked by intensifying wildfires Tesla is working with regional governments to install solar arrays and Powerwalls on tens of thousands of homes for VPP programs says it operates over 5,000 megawatts’ worth of projects in a dozen countries Puerto Rico’s own VPP efforts began in the wake of Hurricane Maria — and it builds on the grassroots surge in rooftop solar projects Read this article in English dejando a los pacientes y al personal a oscuras La incertidumbre ha llevado a muchos de los 3,2 millones de habitantes de Puerto Rico a tomar medidas propias Decenas de miles de paneles solares con sistemas de batería de respaldo operan hoy en azoteas a través de la isla lo que le ha permitido que hogares y empresas puedan usar sus luces y electrodomésticos incluso cuando falla la red los proponentes de la energía solar dicen que la empresa de servicios públicos estatal puede aprovechar estos sistemas de energía renovables y distribuídos para ayudar a aliviar los problemas energéticos en toda la isla la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) parece estar a punto de aprobar planes para la primera planta de energía virtual de la isla Una planta de energía virtual (o VPP por sus siglas en inglés) es una red de sistemas solares y baterías que se conectan y son controlados de forma remota mediante software y redes de comunicaciones digitales La idea es utilizar estas instalaciones individuales para ayudar a reducir las interrupciones y fluctuaciones de energía en la red eléctrica principal que sirve a la población en general La AEE produce y procura el suministro eléctrico de la isla opera el sistema de transmisión y distribución) la AEE solicitó propuestas para plantas de energía virtual de 150 megavatios como parte de una solicitud más grande para proyectos de energía renovable y almacenamiento con baterías “Puerto Rico tiene este recurso [energético] existente y en constante crecimiento que podría ayudar a prevenir apagones para todos”, dijo Javier Rúa-Jovet, uno de los principales defensores de las VPP y director de políticas de la Asociación de Energía Solar y Almacenamiento de Puerto Rico ​“Lo que queremos es aprovechar ese recurso que no está siendo aprovechado” Las VPP se están imponiendo rápidamente en los Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo a medida que las empresas de servicios públicos se enfrentan a redes estresadas y los costos de las tecnologías de energía limpia continúan reduciéndose un operador de VPP puede dirigir los sistemas de energía individuales a alimentar electricidad directamente a la red siempre que se necesite energía como durante los períodos de alta demanda de energía mediante el uso de muchos sistemas pequeños de producción las empresas de servicios públicos pueden compensar o posponer la necesidad de construir grandes centrales eléctricas y líneas de transmisión de alto voltaje a larga distancia dice que opera proyectos de más de 5.000 megavatios en una docena de países Los esfuerzos de VPP de Puerto Rico comenzaron a raíz del huracán María y se han impulsado por medio del aumento de los proyectos solares en los techos Leer este artículo en español Just two days before the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans received a brutal reminder of how vulnerable the island’s central electricity system remains. On Sunday, Hurricane Fiona slammed into the U.S bringing feet of rain and catastrophic flooding All of the nearly 1.5 million utility customers initially lost power which operates the island transmission and distribution system Read this article in English Dos días antes del aniversario del huracán María, los puertorriqueños recibieron un brutal recordatorio de cuán vulnerable sigue siendo el sistema eléctrico central. El huracán Fiona azotó el territorio estadounidense el domingo con lluvias catastróficas inundaciones y deslizamientos de tierra a través de la isla Todos los casi 1,5 millones de clientes de servicios públicos se quedaron sin electricidad el operador del sistema de transmisión y distribución de la isla Mudslides and heaps of debris continue to complicate recovery efforts Fiona — which arrived just days before the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria — brought renewed attention to Puerto Rico’s crumbling grid and the failure of government agencies and utility companies to build a more resilient electricity system Energy experts and community organizers have urged officials for years not to build back the existing fossil-fuel-powered grid and invest instead in rooftop solar arrays battery storage systems and microgrids to prevent more sweeping blackouts That investment has yet to happen, but in the meantime, business owners, residents and nonprofits are leading their own grassroots solar movement in Puerto Rico.  Tens of thousands of rooftop solar systems with batteries have been installed since 2017 when Maria all but destroyed the island’s electric grid and left people without power for weeks and even more than a year in some places.  This week, those rooftop solar systems were put to the test for the first time as Fiona brought Category 1 winds and catastrophic flooding to the island of 3.2 million people Don’t miss our live episode of Climavores in New York City on October 20! Sign up here for a night of live audio and networking with top voices in climate journalism almost exactly five years after Hurricane Maria wiped out Puerto Rico’s electric grid another storm — Hurricane Fiona — pushed the island’s electric system to failure Earlier this year, we brought Canary Media reporter Maria Gallucci on the show to talk about Puerto Rico’s grid failures in the months and years after Hurricane Maria — and the boom in grassroots solar projects that has materialized in response.  it’s a similar story to what transpired after Hurricane Maria one-third of the island’s residents still don’t have access to power There are now tens of thousands more solar-plus-battery systems on the island and some communities were able to keep the lights on as a result.  This week, we’re getting a post-Fiona update from Maria, delving into the storm’s impact on Puerto Rico’s grid system, why it’s still broken and how solar and batteries could help fix it. Check out her ongoing special series about the grassroots movement to adopt solar and batteries in Puerto Rico including recent updates in the wake of Hurricane Fiona.  The Carbon Copy is supported by GridX. GridX provides invaluable business insight that improves the uptake of the programs, products and services needed to decarbonize. Delivering on our clean energy future is complex. GridX exists to simplify the journey. Learn more. The Carbon Copy is brought to you by KORE Power. KORE Power is the leading U.S.-based developer of battery cell technology for the clean energy industry. KORE Power is proud to offer a functional solution to real-world problems and fulfill market demand to deliver a zero-carbon future. Learn more at korepower.com the Adjuntas ​“microgrid” is nearly ready to launch.  the community organization that’s spearheading the initiative.  Read this article in English. Después de que el huracán María azotara a Puerto Rico en 2017 casi destruyendo el sistema eléctrico de la isla los residentes de la ciudad montañosa de Adjuntas idearon un plan novedoso para resguardar su futuro energético Pequeñas tiendas cerca de la plaza central pondrían paneles solares en los techos pero en lugar de utilizar la energía directamente la almacenarían en un banco de baterías comunales con cables y sistemas informáticos conectando los dispositivos actuando como si fueran una pequeña empresa de servicios públicos la ​“microrred” de Adjuntas está casi lista para su lanzamiento Si la red principal de la isla vuelve a fallar como sucedió durante muchos meses después del huracán María las tiendas en Adjuntas podrán permanecer abiertas sin tener que utilizar costosos y contaminantes generadores de diesel Los vecinos podrán comprar alimentos y cargar dispositivos electrónicos y tendrán un lugar para refrigerar medicamentos esenciales como la insulina después de un desastre o apagón los técnicos terminaron de instalar el sistema de batería con capacidad de 1 megavatio-hora que unirá 14 negocios y dos edificios de apartamentos que rodean la plaza central La microrred de Adjuntas se está sometiendo actualmente a pruebas para asegurarse de que pueda extraer almacenar y distribuir correctamente los más de 200 kilovatios de energía de los paneles solares.  “Esto es algo de lo que podemos sentirnos extremadamente orgullosos”, dijo Arturo Massol Deyá, director ejecutivo de Casa Pueblo la organización comunitaria que encabeza la iniciativa Casa Pueblo organizará una marcha para conmemorar el lanzamiento de la microrred y urgir a los líderes a desarrollar proyectos similares en todo el territorio Se unirán al desfile miembros de la Fundación Honnold que ha invertido alrededor de $2 millones de dólares en la microrred y los ingenieros que trabajaron en el proyecto incluidos algunos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico del campus de Mayagüez y el Laboratorio Nacional de Oak Ridge en Tennessee “Queremos celebrar nuestro logro de una manera que abogue por la seguridad energética para todos en Puerto Rico ​“La energía debe estar en manos de la gente y de la propia comunidad” This work, FBI, reservists deliver food, water to residents in remote areas of Adjuntas Puerto Rico, by SFC Elvis Umanzor, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright About the project Walter Cronkite School of Journalismand Mass Communication Puerto Rico -- Thousands of acres of mountainside coffee plantations that once helped make Puerto Rico one of the most prominent coffee producing regions in the world have been untouched in recent harvests The demand for Puerto Rican coffee has not declined; in fact the local demand outweighs what the farmers can produce But the inability to find enough coffee bean pickers willing to perform the tedious work at minimum wage has crippled the Puerto Rican coffee business over the last decade The lack of willing workers exists despite an unemployment rate of 15.2 percent on the island as of this March according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics a jobless rate almost twice that on the mainland United States The dilemma has coffee growers and politicians considering help from abroad -- either from undocumented immigrants or through guest worker programs The once a flourishing industry has become a struggling trade for farmers whose production is a fraction of what it was in the past Driving along the roads that wrap around the central Adjuntas mountains William Mattei spots thousands of coffee trees that cover the hillsides coffee trees," he says as he points out the window of his four-wheel drive Mitsubishi Montero Thousands of acres of farmland in the lush central mountains of the island are covered by the small trees From roadside views it's hard to believe that farmers have actually cut back on what they cultivated; but the reality for farmers roasters and intermediaries like Mattei is that the majority of the beans produced on those trees will never be used "It's the picking," said Mattei who grows coffee and owns a producing plant where beans are washed hulled and dried before being sent to roasters "I can keep a farm of five workers but I need 20 people to pick retired people and we give jobs to people that cannot get jobs anywhere else We give jobs to people who have social problems physical problems; we just need hands to pick coffee." According to the 2007 Puerto Rico Census of Agriculture there were 4,094 coffee farms on the island that brought in $41,721,396 that year just below sales of plantains But as a result of labor shortages during harvest over the last decade some farmers claim that nearly 75 percent of their crops go unpicked Coffee production has been a pride of Puerto Rico since the 18th century according to former Secretary of Agriculture Javier Rivera who has worked closely with the industry over the last 16 years as a both a field agronomist and politician He says the island's coffee was once considered a luxury item during its first years of cultivation with a family from the Castaner region of the Puerto Rico supplying coffee to the Vatican as it was the beverage of choice of several popes large haciendas were put in place to market and expand coffee production "In 1996 we were not experiencing a real issue with labor but then the government didn't recognize that the locals were actually absent," Rivera said "But since Hurricane Georges pretty much devastated the area where these immigrants were working They had to work and they came to the San Juan area and now they don't want to know anything about picking coffee." who at the time was serving in the Legislature worked with lawmakers to offer alternatives to farmers to increase the number of workers during harvest "Manos pa'l Campo" (Hands for the Fields) was an initiative introduced to stimulate the industry It included educating the public about coffee production Rivera says he knew international migrant workers were the real answer to end the labor shortage I knew that the only way to solve this problem was to bring people from overseas people who were skilled and who needed to work; needed to work in order to eat," Rivera said Foreign Labor Seen as Solution for the Industry a measure that would allow farmers to hire foreign laborers to solve the labor shortage But in order to make an international call for workers the island first has to prove that both local and national residents do not want to take these jobs "Everyone thinks it's going to be Dominicans," said Sandra Gonzalez of Sandra Farms all these people that don't pick coffee that don't farm how are you going to farm if you don't bring someone in that wants to pick it 'Puerto Rican Coffee picked by Puerto Rican hands.' Wonderful Sandra and her husband Israel retired early from their jobs in the United States "I was born on a farm and even though I lived in New York City I wanted to have a farm someday," Israel said We got it and by circumstance very close to where my father was born." The husband and wife team arrived on the island in 2004 and turned the original land into Sandra Farms the pair faced a setback when Hurricane Georges destroyed their home and coffee crops the pair decided to sell specialty coffee instead of selling their coffee to the government as they did before the coffee beans are picked at their prime ripeness The central mountains of Puerto Rico provide an ideal environment for coffee growing The region has a cooler climate than most other parts of the island plentiful rainfall each year and fairly consistent cloud cover "The key to our coffee isn't necessarily what we do it's because the environment here is the perfect setting for producing great coffee," said grower Israel Gonzalez "The trade winds you feel right now keep it especially cool and from 2000 feet up you can produce some great coffee beans Few places in the world have a climate like this." growing the plants is not a major challenge for Puerto Rico's coffee farmers strenuous process of harvesting and processing is the hard part Many people don't understand how much labor goes into their steaming cup It takes three to five years for trees to produce the round berries that start out green and ripen red the berries are picked at their ripest; for other varieties berries are picked while not fully ripe Some green berries are used to produce commercial grade coffee Each tree is picked numerous times during harvest season The fruit must be processed the same day it is picked otherwise the beans inside may spoil The berries are processed in "beneficiados," machinery that washes The machines squeeze the berries to release the beans the beans are stored in large plastic bags and burlap sacks before they are sent to roasters Roasting of the bean is done at different temperatures and for different time periods to acquire varying degrees of roast In this part of the process the bean is cooked until it turns brown and splits bringing out the aroma of the bean Storing and bagging the beans for sale can be costly The roasted beans are sometimes ground so they are ready to be used when purchased "At harvest time is when you employ most people," Israel said "But for example for 28 or 30,000 trees you really should have 40 or 50 pickers but we get maybe 15." the Gonzalezes say they have lost close to 10,000 trees due to both the labor shortage and damage to the crops from pests or other organisms but they don't bother restoring the crops for fear they will go to waste "Why would I replace that tree if I can't pick what that tree is gonna produce?" Israel said "What happens is you lose most of your harvest the Gonzalezes have sought help from local government applying for programs through the Puerto Rico Department of Labor to bring in international migrant workers to help during harvest while the Puerto Rican Department of Labor allowed foreign workers to apply for temporary visas to work in industries like construction there were no such guest workers programs in place for agriculture "We would like to see one (guest worker program) It's the only way to maintain coffee production in Puerto Rico Because otherwise it's going to die," Israel said the Puerto Rico Department of Labor did not offer H2A Visas for farmers according to Puerto Rico Department of Labor State Monitor Advocate Carlos Roman he says that prior to coming to the department in 2010 the staff wasn't aware that such a program existed and how to assist farmers who were requesting to hire foreign workers He says that when he discovered Puerto Rico was not practicing this program he immediately had it implemented and began taking applications in July 2011 allows employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to temporarily bring foreign workers to the island Before farmers can be approved to hire these workers an application must be filed stating there are no other workers willing or available to carry out the work "The employer has to provide them (foreign workers) with housing and has to comply with federal regulations," Roman said "Some farmers don't have the necessary resources to build those houses to bring the aliens as a result of the local worker shortage coffee is now being imported to Puerto Rico is processed on the island and is sometimes mixed with the local coffee "We asked the roaster not to mix our coffee with other beans so we could show it off to our family in Germany -- and when I picked up the roasted coffee he confirmed he had mixed it with other coffee," said Kurt Legner of Pomarrosa Farms Legner and his family decided to sell specialty coffee after they found they weren't making a desired profit selling commercial grade Legner said that Puerto Rico currently consumes some 300,000 quintals or 30 million pounds of coffee and local growers only produce about 10 million pounds -- meaning 20 million pounds are being imported usually from the Dominican Republic and Mexico Legner says he is one of only a few coffee producers who can say they offer 100 percent pure Puerto Rican coffee "People complain that there's not enough jobs in Puerto Rico," said Legner's son but they don't want to because they'd rather stay at home watch T.V nothing is going to change in the agricultural world here in Puerto Rico It's very upsetting because us young people have to take care of family business like this one." agrees that welfare and unemployment has played a major role in the decline of production "Unemployed people aren't necessarily willing to do anything," he said Puerto Rico residents are eligible to receive government benefits including unemployment compensation which Rivera says are discouraging those without a job to take on the grueling labor of working in the fields "Welfare had a very kind intention in the beginning but now it's a different story," Rivera said "Younger generations see coffee harvesting as a very sacrificed way for wages earned most coffee pickers are in the 40 plus years of age the harvest only lasts five months total for Puerto Rico Its seasonality does not offer the stability people look for nowadays." These issues are not exclusive to the island Labor shortages linked to lack of people willing to take these jobs are universal problem in agriculture including several regions in the United States "Just last year when Georgia passed a law against illegal immigrants guess what happened," Israel said "The illegals said ok we're out of here and guess what happened The peaches and all the harvest were not picked very well because there were no laborers to pick it and Georgians did not run out and pick them Rivera explained that the issue with unemployment has more to do with the expectations of life and that most of the people categorized as unemployed are those who are actively seeking a job "If you look at the profile of people looking for a job they're teachers most are professionals and they have hopes for finding a job in what they study and they're not necessarily thinking that they're going to pick coffee to bring the prize winnings home," Rivera said The program started in 2011 with a call for people in close proximity to the coffee plantations to work in the fields To further address the unemployment problem the government also made it possible for those who chose to work during the harvest to still receive their benefits But those who did go to the fields quit very quickly "Some of these people showed up on the farm and by our records they lasted three days on average," Rivera said "That means the one that worked the most was six days and the one that worked the least was one day so we really have to understand that one issue is having a lack of people to harvest coffee and another is unemployment." who were charged with misdemeanors and demonstrated good behavior 300 were chosen to take part in the program and work in the fields with no pay only 80 worked in the fields as farmers felt uneasy about allowing them onto their fields "We would have used it but the women who at that time picked our coffee said go ahead bring in whoever you want but I'm not coming," Israel said "I'm gonna lose a regular coffee picker because she's fearful The local government also created a Field Experience program to educate people on the process behind coffee production hoping to spark an appreciation for what goes into every cup they drink high school students and volunteers were invited to the fields to help with the harvest A Last-Ditch Effort to Attract Local Workers a pilot program was launched to bring workers from other parts of the island where no coffee is being grown transportation and housing requirements if farmers hire workers from outside the farming region These workers would have to be provided with transportation to and from the fields with each passenger having a seat with a seatbelt and/or temporary living quarters with a place to prepare food saying what was meant to be a solution for farmers "Not a lot of farmers want to invest and go the length that the Department of Labor was requiring," Rivera said Rivera convinced Governor Luis Fortuno to invest $600,000 to establish living quarters in three municipalities Old schools that were left unused were refitted to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of Labor If the island can prove that there is still a shortage after the pilot program then Puerto Rican coffee farmers will be allowed to begin an international call for foreign workers to try to revive the industry the Gonzalezes and many others on the island this is the only way they see to stem the labor shortage and to bolster the industry "It would be like bringing the prisoners to pick the coffee," farmer Luis Acevedo said "They would feel out of place…They would feel intimidation from us Acevedo is a Puerto Rican local who's owned his own farm since 1997 He employs workers from other cities but has a place for them to stay on his farm and says there is in fact an interest to work from other parts of the island Acevedo has begun replacing coffee trees with citrus feeling less confident about where the coffee business is going Mattei also said he believes there are people on the island willing to take these jobs and says solving internal problems will help alleviate the shortage "The farms have to be in better condition," Mattei said let's improve the farms so the workers are more motivated to work in the coffee field If the pay was better some of these issues will be solved." the Department of Labor is requiring the state to issue a certificate of need "This bill is what I refer as a 'born-dead' law," Roman said "It cannot be applied to Puerto Rico because all the provisions and all the mechanisms to hire workers form outside United States have to be managed by federal government States have no authority to pass immigration laws local and federal government has made finding a solution to the problem a drawn-out It will be another year before the results of the national call will be known and even then farmers may not agree on whether hiring foreign workers will meet their needs farmers have found ways to create supplemental income and keep the farms going While some like Acevedo are expanding into additional crops others like the Gonzalezes and Legners offer "agri-tourism" such as tours of their farms and facilities to travelers and interested locals "At least we started moving in the right direction," Rivera said "It's something later on I'm going to tell my kids the story of how we started this movement and how I got to be part of it and we have to keep going." Ada Rivera and her husband Jose Guzman saw the destruction of Hurricane Maria as an opportunity to give their Adjuntas home a special touch that they had been wanting to do: paint the Puerto Rican flag on the roof of their home so everyone riding through the winding roads can see ‘We are proud to be Puerto Rican and want everyone to see that Hurricane Maria did not win this fight,’ said Rivera (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Puerto Rico’s rural mountain towns and municipalities were some of the last to receive aid after Hurricane Maria because of their remote location and the island’s relatively poor roads Many of the people in these areas are older residents who have chosen to stay on the island rather than migrate to the mainland United States they are some of Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable people – but they are also among the most resourceful and resilient Adjuntas is located in the central mountain range of Puerto Rico Known by islanders as “La ciudad del gigante dormido,” (The city of the sleeping giant) Adjuntas sits atop some of Puerto Rico’s tallest mountains Half of the population falls below the average median income making Adjuntas one of the poorest mountain towns in Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria left over 18,000 people without electricity for over six months After Hurricane Maria struck the island of Puerto Rico was left without electricity and access to food She lives miles away from the city center but travels down the mountains of Adjuntas by foot to visit friends and family a few times a week She is known to some in the town as the Mountain Lady (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) The name Maria has changed the way Pablo J he has never experienced a more difficult hurricane 'Talking about this hurricane gives me goosebumps I have nightmares every night.' Hurricane Maria left Sanabria without electricity for over five months a postcard business that has been operating since the 1950s The doors to his business are once again wide open and he now has electricity The night that Hurricane Maria made landfall spent the night in the safety of her daughter’s home The winds battered the walls of the concrete home Water began pouring in through the windows and roof she could see her roofless house off in the distance I wish I were in my house.' (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Yauco is a large municipality located in southwest Puerto Rico Yauco starts in the central mountain range of the island and rolls down into a valley extending to the Caribbean Sea Known as “El Pueblo de Cafe,” (Coffee City) Yauco is the main producer of coffee on the island tore through the island’s coffee plantations and devastated the coffee production with damages totalling approximately $10 million leaving coffee farmers throughout Yauco with little to no hope of rebuilding their industry Yauco is a large municipality located in the southwest of Puerto Rico Manuel Dox is the owner of Hacienda Mireia a coffee farm in the high mountains of Yauco Dox’s grandfather was a coffee farmer and inspired Dox to leave his finance job in New York City and pursue coffee farming After Hurricane Irma and Maria ravaged the island Dox’s 50 acre coffee plantation was completely destroyed leaving him and his wife scrambling to make ends meet Dox named his coffee plantation after his wife Mireia Casamitjana who he met while they were studying in Babson College in Massachusetts After he expressed his passion for starting a coffee plantation Mireia left her pharmaceutical job in Barcelona and joined Dox Dox and his workers were able to re-plant 1,500 coffee plants They started a coffee plant nursery with the coffee beans they salvaged from the hurricane Dox said that the Puerto Rican government is responsible for providing coffee farmers with plants to help sustain their farms but the process has been problematic since the hurricane Dox and his wife decided to move out of their home and into an empty house on their property to give one of his right hand man’s family a place to live after Hurricane Maria destroyed their home ‘A man and his wife can only do so much,’ said Dox after explaining how they are slowly running out of money to invest in the coffee plantation ‘From making six figures in New York City to barely making anything .. We are living off of savings and Puerto Rican farmers insurance To rebuild what we used to have and make this plantation productive it takes much more than what we receive.’ (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Known by islanders as “Los Valerosos,” (The Valiant Ones) Ciales is located in the central mountain range of Puerto Rico making Ciales one of Puerto Rico’s poorest mountain towns Hurricane Maria ravaged Ciales leaving over 19,000 people incapable of accessing roads and without light for over six months Ciales is only 45 minutes away from the island’s metropolitan center of San Juan but many residents did not see FEMA agents until a month after Hurricane Maria made landfall The Roja family members have lived in Ciales their entire life Hurricane Maria completely destroyed the family’s home and they were forced to leave They found refuge in a home that was lended to them by a neighbor who lives in the mainland United States The temporarily home also suffered severe damage A blue FEMA tarp serves as a roof for parts of the home There are seven kids in the Roja family: Kaxushaka Francheska and Joselyn play the mother’s role Seven-year-old Julio is the youngest of the Roja family The night Hurricane Maria hit the mountain town of Ciales watched over Julio as he cried throughout the night (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Despite the family’s living conditions and the added difficulties of the hurricane Roja wants to continue going to school and one day become a doctor Kaxushaka Roja shares a room with her three sisters she does her part to take care of her younger siblings playing here with sisters Joselyn and Angeles The roof was destroyed by the Hurricane so they make due with a tarp that paints the room a shade of blue Blue used to Benjamin’s favorite color but after the Hurricane Barrio Real is a small suburb in Patillas which is located on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico Patillas is known by islanders as “La Esmeralda del Sur” (The Emerald of the South) for its lush green mountains that roll to the coast Fifty-five percent of Barrio Real’s population is retired and many live below the poverty line Barrio Real does not use Puerto Rico’s water reserve and filtration system that most of the island uses The community relies on their own filtration system to purify water from the river that flows through the the small mountain community with the loss of electricity because of Hurricane Maria Barrio Real residents also lost their access to clean drinking water She was born and raised in Patillas where she and her late husband raised their family I know more than half is destroyed but this where I am happy Along with losing electricity and access to clean drinking water Dona Chefa’s home was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria Dona Chefa remembers seeing the river behind her home flow the opposite direction the night that Hurricane Maria made landfall destroyed homes and left the green mountains of Patillas dark brown like a wildfire had passed through the island Porfirio Fraticelli is a retired police officer in charge of the water filtration system in Barrio Real He lives off his retirement pension and volunteers his time to oversee the water plant 'I feel like it is my responsibility to bring clean drinking water to my community once again but it is not easy to do,' Fraticelli said in Spanish 'We don’t have electricity and clean water.' Fraticelli’s wife suffers from Alzheimer's and said Hurricane Maria has made his life harder (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) an Israeli NGO focused on humanitarian aid have been able to craft a design that could bring clean drinking water to residents of Barrio Real using a gravitation water filtration system that does not rely on electricity Neuman and Fraticelli have been using other sanitation methods to give clean water to Barrio Real residents (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project Porfirio Fraticelli walks up a winding trail that leads to a waterfall to check if the water filtration system He is 68 years-old and is worried he is getting to old for the job but doesn’t know of anyone who is willing to take over his position Ponce is the second largest city/municipality in Puerto Rico following San Juan Known as “La Perla del Sur,” (The Pearl of the South) Ponce’s northern boundary begins in a mountainous region that flows into a valley and reaches the island’s southern coast Ponce’s population of almost 200,000 lost electricity and easy access to food and water Though much of Ponce’s coastline and city center regained power relatively quickly farmers in the mountain regions remained without power for months a coffee plantation in the mountains of Ponce has dedicated his life to the coffee industry He and his wife and co-owner of the hacienda knew that starting and owning a business would be hard but they were not prepared for the destruction of Hurricane Maria Kurt Legner and Eva Lisa Santiago offer tours coffee tastings and bed and breakfast lodging on their hacienda but since Hurricane Maria tourism to the central parts of the island has fallen off ‘It has been very hard since the hurricane We have not had as many people come to tour,’ said Legner ‘But we are hopeful this will change.’ (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Only 1,500 of the over 7,000 coffee plants survived on Hacienda Pomarrosa after Hurricane Maria owner Kurt Legner started seeing the remaining coffee plants blossom throughout the hacienda ‘There is new life that Hurricane Maria has brought us,’ said Legner Though thousands of coffee plants were lost because of the hurricane Santiago is determined to serve all her guests cappuccinos or expressos but because of the hurricane they have been selling their coffee beans online Kurt Legner and Eva Lisa Santiago’s son moved from the island to pursue his own career in the coffee industry Legner wishes his son would come back to the island and help with Hacienda Pomarrosa but knows that because of the destruction of Hurricane Maria his son will not have opportunities in Puerto Rico Hurricane Maria did not crush Eva Lisa Santiago’s spirit She said she has poured her entire life’s savings into the business and will do everything she can to see Hacienda Pomarrosa grow ‘Hurricane Maria scarred our land but still we see life coming back There is still life in Puerto Rico.’ (Photo by Lerman Montoya/Cronkite Borderlands Project) Cronkite News is the news division of Arizona PBS. The daily news products are produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University Find a staff list and description of our beats here. Privacy statement Learn more about what we do and how to find our content on our broadcast Find out how your news organization can use Cronkite News content © 2025 Cronkite News. All rights reserved. Creative Commons You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience The microgrid will be commissioned by Casa Pueblo in partnership with the Honnold Foundation and the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas (ACESA) are celebrating the installation of approximately 700 solar panels to power 14 businesses in 7 buildings around the town’s central plaza in Adjuntas Puerto Rico will have nearly 700 solar modules installed on seven rooftops in the town’s center backed by 1 mW of battery storage in two locations energy accessible battery storage solution installation is expected to be able to serve the entire community for up to 10 days of off-grid functionality The microgrid is owned and managed by a local nonprofit entity the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas (ACESA) reliable power to 14 of Adjuntas small businesses and set a precedent for energy access throughout Puerto Rico and the Caribbean Adjuntas is historically one of the hardest-hit communities in Puerto Rico during natural disasters and this 187 kW microgrid will ensure that the power stays on The solar power will be stored in a custom built battery storage system (BESS) manufactured by ELM and purpose built for the microgrid and was contracted and then donated by Rivian The batteries are expected to provide more than 10 days of off-grid storage for the current size of the system the construction will allow for the full PV count to double while still providing at least 5 days of off-grid storage After Hurricane Maria hit the island in 2017 the town of Adjuntas was without power for nearly a year a community organization focused on the sustainable development of the region was the only building in town with power—thanks to its solar installation Other areas of the town were powered by diesel generators to provide refrigeration business leaders alongside a few community stakeholders formed the nonprofit Energy is sold back to the grid via a power purchase agreement but approximately 50% of those savings (the final rate to be determined) will be reinvested back into both microgrid maintenance and future community projects The community-owned microgrid can serve as an open sourced model for all of Puerto Rico with funds saved from the power purchase agreement the intent is to bring other homes onto the current microgrid provided there’s additional philanthropic support more homes could be plugged into the Adjuntas microgrid One of the partners is the Honnold Foundation founded ten years ago by the rock climber Alex Honnold The Foundation’s mission is to partner with marginalized communities to expand equitable solar energy access the Honnold Foundation has helped 48 Partners in over 20 different countries and territories use solar energy to build equity and support communities’ right to self-determination The foundation doubled its grantmaking this year to fund $2 million in solar energy projects the foundation announced that venture capitalist Peter Levine was providing a multimillion dollar gift over the next three years to launch the Levine Impact Lab in partnership with the Honnold Foundation The lab intends to offer long-term support to organizations and individual leaders who otherwise might lack access to the best-in-class resources typically reserved for VC-funded startups “The repercussions of climate change are felt in every corner of the world with rising temperatures increased frequencies of natural disasters communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis are receiving the least amount of support despite the best efforts of grassroots organizations and community leaders.” More articles from Anne Fischer Can you tell us what chemistry the Rivian battery uses Please be mindful of our community standards and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy pv magazine USA offers daily updates of the latest photovoltaics news We also offer comprehensive global coverage of the most important solar markets worldwide up to date information delivered straight to your inbox Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_3" ).setAttribute( "value" Welcome to pv magazine USA. This site uses cookies. Read our policy. × The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this Close Page unavailable.This page either does not exist or is currently unavailable From here you can either hit the "back" button on your browser to return to the previous page, or visit the ABCNews.com Home Page You can also search for something on our site below The 2023 winners of the Microgrid Knowledge Greater Good Awards provide reliable power to communities and critical infrastructure in the face of severe weather and natural disasters light to study by and fresh water to drink for children and energy security to people with disabilities The awards were announced today at Microgrid 2023: Lights On! a conference hosted by Microgrid Knowledge Microgrid Knowledge launched the award program five years ago to celebrate how microgrids can change the lives of those they serve The highest recognition prize went to the Adjuntas microgrid (Honnold Foundation and Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas [ACESA]) in Adjuntas Inspired by how well a local nonprofit’s solar project performed in the wake of 2017’s Hurricane Maria a nonprofit that now operates and manages the Adjuntas microgrid The project consists of two decentralized microgrids powered by nearly 700 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and a 1.107-MWh battery energy storage system The microgrid is designed to withstand hurricane force winds and can support the community for up to 10 days in the aftermath of a major storm one of the judges and the director of policy and programs at The Partnership for Inclusive Disaster Strategies “It is critical that control of energy in Puerto Rico rest in the hands of small business.” “This is not simply a microgrid project; this is a new economic model and community building at its finest,” said Patrice Calise another judge and copy editor at S&P Global Market Intelligence “In addition to providing stable and affordable power for this community the project takes into account local dynamics and issues of justice which is reflected in the placement of solar panels and the ownership of maintenance and expansion This microgrid belongs to the people here and will be able to withstand both social and climate challenges because of it.”  The award for remote microgrid was presented to the Atutu solar microgrid (Atutu) in northern Myanmar This microgrid was installed at an off-grid monastery that serves as a boarding school for disenfranchised children The school is currently home to 30 mostly ethnic minority students ranging in age from kindergarten to the fourth grade the monastery relied on a diesel generator to pump water and provide light at night When the staff could not raise the funds to pay for weekly diesel fuel deliveries students and teachers would have to carry water from a nearby river basin to the monastery’s water tanks and students would be forced to study by candlelight at night which also has a 9.6-kWh energy storage system provides power on demand for students and teachers and has eliminated the monastery’s reliance on its diesel generator another judge and a writer/analyst at RBN Energy described the project as inspiring The Gallaudet University microgrid (Scale Microgrid Solutions New Columbia Solar and Signature Renovations – Sworks JV) was awarded the prize for grid-connected microgrid Gallaudet University is a top educational institution for deaf and hard-of-hearing students The microgrid consists of multiple distributed energy resource technologies including 2.5 MW of solar PV spread across numerous campus rooftops and parking garages a 1.2-MW/2.5-MWh Tesla Megapack and 4.5-MW combined cooling The system also features advanced microgrid controls to coordinate the seamless integration of the microgrid components and the broader power grid The microgrid will not only offset the university’s electricity demand but it has enough solar capacity to serve some 1,500 households or businesses in the surrounding community The independent panel of judges found this project intriguing because it serves both the university and its neighbors “It's great how the school thought beyond its own needs and sought to serve the broader community as well,” Carr said “This is the way forward for all universities.” The award for a local microgrid in the conference’s host state was presented to the Redwood Coast Airport Microgrid (Redwood Coast Energy Authority Schatz Energy Research Center at Cal Poly Humboldt Located at the Redwood Coast Airport in Humboldt County this microgrid is the state’s first solar-powered It includes a 300-kW net metered solar PV array system that offsets daily electricity usage at the airport It also includes a 2.2-MW solar PV array that feeds wholesale electricity directly into the grid and a 2.2-MW battery storage system providing 8.8 MWh of energy the microgrid provides power to the nearby US Coast Guard Air Station during grid outages the microgrid was put to the test after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the county automatically islanding and keeping the airport and the Coast Guard Station powered for nearly 15 hours despite suboptimal conditions – it was raining the batteries had been partially discharged prior to the outage and the outage occurred on the second shortest day of the year “The December 2022 earthquake provided proof of how valuable and helpful projects like this can be,” Carr said Track news about microgrids built for the greater good. Subscribe to the free Microgrid Knowledge Newsletter I work as a writer and special projects editor for Microgrid Knowledge I have over 30 years of writing experience working with a variety of companies in the renewable energy I have a BFA in Media Arts from the University of Arizona and a MBA from the University of Denver the Postal Service is on track to scale a new high in holiday deliveries as its volume is up more than 15% compared with a year ago and is forecast to deliver more than 600 million packages between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve That includes packages that will be part of regular mail delivery scheduled for Christmas Eve many local post offices will shorten lobby hours and close at 2 p.m.  Local holiday hours will be posted at each Post Office  Among the Post Offices in Puerto Rico that will be open until 5 pm include: Business customers should check with their Bulk Mail Entry Unit for hours of operation Blue collection boxes with final collection times before 12 p.m (noon) will not be affected by the early closing on December 24.  But if boxes have final collection times after 12 p.m. Please deposit mail into blue collection boxes by noon on December 24 regardless of the final collection times posted on the box All Post Offices will be closed on Christmas Day Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm. A complete list of the holiday shipping deadlines can be found at usps.com/holidaynews For more information about the Postal Service, visit usps.com and usps.com/postalfacts Rivian Automotive announced a project for using its second-life batteries as part of a solar microgrid initiative with the Honnold Foundation The goal of the project is to support energy independence and the adoption of renewable power generation The project is being set up in the town of Adjuntas Puerto Rico and it marked Rivian’s first steps in its broad plan to utilize second-life batteries for a wide variety of applications Rivian is using 135kWh battery packs from the company’s development vehicles for supporting this project Adjuntas is a city with a population of 20,000 in midwestern Puerto Rico And Adjuntas was severely impacted by Hurricane Maria in 2017 And as climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of storms Adjuntas NGO Casa Pueblo has been seeking to collaborate on rugged and affordable sources of community power The Honnold Foundation and Rivian battery engineers visited Casa Pueblo to meet with community leaders they are designing a site-specific system for powering many businesses located in the Adjuntas town square the downtown solar microgrid will allow Adjuntas residents to access electricity for core businesses the system brings down high commercial energy costs which in Puerto Rico are twice the national average and battery management system to seamlessly transition from vehicle energy storage to stationary energy storage at the end of their vehicle life The battery module’s thin design also enables second-life applications that are customizable and space-efficient — which is important for environments with existing infrastructure “Second-life batteries are a big enabler to accelerating widespread adoption of renewable energy and it’s exciting to envision this system contributing importantly to a community This project allows us to model a customized energy storage solution that takes into account space constraints and energy independence,” said Scaringe in a statement Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe and elite climber Alex Honnold discussed the project in Denver over the weekend from the electric vehicle maker’s YouTube channel The conversation was moderated by athlete and podcaster Rich Roll The second-life battery system is expected to launch in 2020 Rivian will be launching the R1T (electric pickup truck) and R1S (electric SUV) in the US followed by other geographies in 2021 Some of the other major announcements that Rivian made this year is that it is working on Rivian-to-Rivian vehicle charging And the company is also building a camp stove add-on that utilizes the battery pack of vehicles for camping enthusiasts Today's print edition Home Delivery The Casa Pueblo environmental group had equipped its Adjuntas headquarters with solar panels and storage batteries — a model of green self-sufficiency that inspired the organization to launch a pioneering community-run microgrid in the town.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); we're pushing from the bottom up," said Arturo Massol-Deya which last month finished installing nearly 700 rooftop solar panels as part of the microgrid initiative In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division.