Kristoffer Tigue, Inside Climate News
Eddie Ramirez has never understood why his government doesn’t more aggressively pursue renewable energy.
When Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico in September 2017, shredding the energy grid and knocking out power for nearly all the island’s 3.4 million residents for months on end, Casa Sol—Ramirez’s five-bedroom bed and breakfast—was one of the only buildings in San Juan with working electricity, with 30 solar panels bolted to its roof.
When a large fire this June at an electrical substation in San Juan plunged more than 800,000 Puerto Rican homes into darkness and knocked out power to another 330,000 the following week, Casa Sol’s lights stayed on, even as its neighbors lost power.
And when a series of equipment failures and poor maintenance led to cascading power outages across the island in August, September and October, leaving hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans without electricity for days at a time and prompting calls for Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi to resign, Ramirez and his solar-powered hotel carried on, business as usual.
“We don’t even know when it happens,” Ramirez said of the blackouts, which have become a daily part of life for many Puerto Ricans since June, when the private company LUMA Energy took over the island’s electricity transmission system.
With Puerto Rico’s grid still in shambles four years after Maria’s landfall, and $12.4 billion in federal aid earmarked to help repair the territory’s electrical systems and jumpstart its economy, many Puerto Ricans, like Ramirez, see a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine the island’s tattered power system as a modern grid powered by clean energy and far better at withstanding the worsening threats of the climate crisis.
But many Puerto Ricans worry their political leaders are squandering that opportunity by planning to rebuild the electricity grid with natural gas power plants that continue to emit greenhouse gases and feed lengthy transmission lines that are vulnerable to natural disasters.
Recent Posts
U.S. Military Willing To Attack “Designated Terrorist Organizations” Within America, General Says
Take Action Now “If I had no concerns and I was confident in the lawful order, I would definitely execute that order.”By Nick Turse, The……
DOJ Won’t Meet Friday Deadline To Release All The Epstein Files
Take Action Now The delay means the White House is in apparent conflict with a law President Donald Trump signed in November.By Gregory…
Privatize USPS? Mail Carriers Have A Better Idea
Take Action Now After battling for a fair contract, USPS workers face the threat of privatization, which they warn will harm all Americans.By Mel…
Senate Passes Massive $901 Billion National Defense Authorization Act, Sending It To Trump’s Desk
Take Action Now When combined with a supplemental bill passed earlier this year, the NDAA will bring the US military budget to over $1 trillionBy…