SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — (AP) — Photo voltaic panels have to be put in at airports, brownfields or industrial websites as a result of there’s not sufficient obtainable land for large-scale set up of wind mills, the preliminary outcomes of a US authorities research geared toward serving to Puerto Rico transition to wash vitality stated Monday.
The 2-year research that started final yr follows the U.S. authorities’s pledge to assist modernize Puerto Rico’s crumbling grid by wanting on the island’s wind and photo voltaic sources, land availability and energy consumption.
Amid the specter of highly effective hurricanes, Puerto Rico has suffered frequent energy outages blamed on a crumbling energy grid.
The island’s present electrical energy era system is 97% based mostly on fossil fuels, main many to query how the US territory will meet the 40% renewable vitality goal by 2025 and 60% by 2040 as as promised by authorities officers.
The research additionally simulated hurricanes and located that small distributed renewable sources are prone to get well sooner than the present system of small and enormous energy vegetation. Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s energy grid in September 2017 when it hit the island as a Class 4 storm and Hurricane Fiona hit it final September as a Class 1 storm. The 2 storms brought about the facility grid to fail in your entire island.
A high US Division of Vitality official stated the $1 billion permitted by the US Congress in December to assist restore Puerto Rico’s grid shouldn’t be sufficient. US President Joe Biden is asking for $3 billion, and federal lawmakers are asking for $5 billion for photo voltaic rooftop panels and storage installations.
The ultimate research, funded by the Federal Emergency Administration Company, shall be printed by the top of the yr.
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