Does Puerto Rico have a solar program?

To further assist Puerto Rico's energy resilience and clean energy goals, DOE today announced that on February 22, 2024, residents can apply for DOE’s Programa Acceso Solar (Solar Access Program) — a program designed to connect up to 30,000 low-income households with residential rooftop solar and battery storage systems with zero upfront costs.

How much money does Puerto Rico have to pay for solar?

Up to $190 million is available to Puerto Rico’s Housing Administration and a private company to pay for solar and battery installations in public housing common areas and subsidized, multifamily housing properties. Another $175 million is available for certain healthcare and dialysis centers.

How do low-income families get solar in Puerto Rico?

Today, low-income families across Puerto Rico can go to energy.gov/solarPR to check their eligibility, prepare required documentation, and identify their local Solar Ambassador. Solar Ambassadors consist of 16 local organizations selected by DOE to conduct outreach in targeted communities and to process applications to the Programa Acceso Solar.

What is the Puerto Rico energy Resilience Fund?

This program is a consumer-facing application phase of the first round of funding from the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund, a $1 billion DOE program focused on improving the resilience of Puerto Rico’s electric grid with an emphasis on the region’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged households and communities.

Does Puerto Rico need new power generation infrastructure?

Puerto Rico must increase new power generation infrastructure significantly—on the scale of hundreds of megawatts—to stabilize the grid and alleviate current generation shortfalls, including rapid deployment of utility-scale and distributed renewable resources and significant amounts of storage.

Why did Puerto Rico get a power outage?

The announcement comes as the U.S. territory continues to struggle with chronic power outages that have worsened since Hurricane Maria pummeled the island as a powerful Category 4 storm in 2017, razing the electric grid. The outages also are blamed on a lack of maintenance and investment in its electric grid for decades.