When Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico and plunged the island into darkness, America and the entire world saw firsthand the fragility of its antiquated power grid. Residents didn't have electricity for nearly a year after the catastrophic storm, and even now, four years later, the island and the economy are still plagued by persistent and ongoing power outages and black outs.
To address these challenges, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) allocated nearly $10 billion to reconstruct Puerto Rico's power system. The funding should offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to develop clean and renewable energy-based power generation. As Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said, "As governor, my objective is to continue reducing dependence on fossil fuels, combat climate change, and take advantage of one of our greatest renewable resources: the sun." Instead, FEMA appears poised to move forward with rebuilding the same fossil fuel-based power grid that has failed the island for years, and has committed zero dollars for renewable energy or storage.
When Donald Trump was still president, Puerto Rico's Public-Private Partnerships Authority announced that it had selected the private, for-profit contractor LUMA Energy—a consortium of Texas-based Quanta Services and Canada-based ATCO —to rebuild the island's energy infrastructure. Under the 15-year agreement, LUMA will receive billions of dollars in federal aid to privatize one of Puerto Rico's essential public services, and to rebuild its same outdated, failure-prone power grid that relies on polluting fossil fuels.
For an island on the frontlines of the climate crisis, failing to invest in resilient, renewable energy is a devastating approach. Analyses by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have underscored Puerto Rico's unique vulnerability to severe storms, which are expected to become more frequent because of climate change. Building the same antiquated system that couldn't withstand previous weather events doesn't make sense in one of the world's most vulnerable regions.
Not only will Puerto Rico's outdated grid not stand a chance against severe weather, but it'll also hasten its effects. By relying on dirty fossil fuels, rather than renewable energy, the grid will make global warming worse. It even contradicts Puerto Rico's own energy laws, which call for 40 percent renewable energy by 2025 and 100 percent by 2050. The commonwealth currently generates a paltry 3 percent of its electricity from renewables, and Puerto Rico's gas-guzzling grid would be another step backwards.
It would also be incredibly expensive for the island's 3.2 million residents. Relying on costly imported fossil fuel drives up the price of electricity considerably. On an island where 44 percent of households live below the poverty line, avoidable energy costs shouldn't be an additional financial burden.
The current plan for the use of FEMA funds will only further the island's dependence on fossil fuels, hinder its shift toward renewable energy, drain the pockets of ratepayers and squander billions of federal disaster relief dollars.
Given all the downsides of this approach, it's perhaps not surprising that the efforts are steeped in scandal. The newly privatized power grid is already experiencing massive and widespread outages, and an arrest warrant had to be issued for LUMA's president Wayne Stensby to comply with orders from the commonwealth legislature and produce salaries, workforce data and other public information.
As families and businesses call for Puerto Rico's stability and recovery, they deserve the peace of mind that comes with a grid that's green, affordable, reliable and built to last. Instead of directing federal aid to a privatization scheme that's only making the island's electricity worse, FEMA funds should instead focus on increasing Puerto Rico's resilience by investing in rooftop solar programs and increased electrical storage. In addition to reducing the island's dependence on imported fossil fuel, this approach would dramatically improve household resiliency and put less strain on the transmission and distribution system. Grid modeling has shown that a robust program to build and distribute rooftop solar and power storage could increase Puerto Rico's renewable energy supply to 75 percent by 2035.
Puerto Rico has been through enough power grid failures. Its residents need transparency, accountability and a targeted shift toward distributed renewable energy. With so much federal aid being delivered, now is the time to be bold, innovate and reimagine the Puerto Rico energy system so it's efficient and resilient. FEMA dollars should in the first instance finance an island-wide, decentralized system of solar power generation and storage built by local labor and small businesses. Most of all, the network needs to be diversified and secured so power isn't knocked out by the next hurricane or earthquake.
Representative Nydia Velázquez is a New York congresswoman and the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the United States Congress.
Russel Honoré is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and global resiliency expert. He previously served as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
