Grid Defection Is On the Rise in Puerto Rico
Orocovis sits right in the mountainous middle of Puerto Rico. It’s one of the island’s “more remote areas with challenging terrain” that on Thursday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said may not have electricity restored until April or May.
The town hasn’t had grid-connected power in the four months since Hurricane Maria. Instead, like many others on the island, Orocovis residents have been relying on costly generators. Alberto Melendez Castillo, the director of the S.U. Matrullas school there, said residents have also had to rely on canned food and milk.
This week, Sonnen and Pura Energía, a local solar installer, announced they’d brought two storage-plus-solar systems online at SU Matrullas. Now, Castillo says that teachers can use their computers, the school’s 150 students have enough light to do homework, the school’s kitchens have running refrigerators, and the community has an off-grid center to help them weather the next storm.
While it may take months for workers from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and mainland mutual aid crews to connect Orocovis back to the grid, the school can continue operating with the help of a 15-kilowatt rooftop solar system and two batteries — one 4 kilowatts/8 kilowatt-hours and the other 8 kilowatts/14 kilowatt-hours.
Even after grid-connected power becomes available, said Castillo, the school plans to stay disconnected and run on its own energy. Plans for a water collection and purification system would make the school an entirely independent lifeline for the community in the case of another disaster. Read more…