Five Puerto Rico Communities Inaugurate Energy Resilience Hubs

Leer en español

As Puerto Rico reaches the 7th Anniversary of Hurricane Maria, five Puerto Rico communities are celebrating new solar and storage installations that will ensure reliable access to electricity during and after natural disasters, while helping Puerto Rico advance toward a resilient and sustainable future.

Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017, leaving millions of people without electricity or access to basic necessities. These five new installations, known as Energy Resilience Hubs, are located in vulnerable communities that have historically lacked access to reliable electricity. The solar and storage facilities will provide backup power to community centers that offer essential services to residents during emergencies or long-term outages.

Learn more: Read a feature article about the Energy Resilience Hubs in the Puerto Rico newspaper El Nuevo Día.

The Energy Resilience Hubs were developed in partnership between IREC and the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez. Funding was provided through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Justice and Equity. IREC recently toured each of the Resilience Hubs with Tamia Gordon, Principal Deputy Director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity, and other representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy.

For each of the Resilience Hubs, IREC engaged with community leaders through extensive workshops and other coordination efforts to ensure the installations met local needs and priorities. Upon completion of the cooperative agreement, each community will own, operate, and maintain its solar and storage facility.

"We are proud to be a part of Puerto Rico's energy transformation by working directly with these communities to advance renewable energy solutions," said Carlos Alberto Velázquez, Puerto Rico Program Director at IREC. "The new solar and storage facilities will provide reliable electricity access to some of Puerto Rico's most vulnerable communities, including Yabucoa, which was in the direct path of Hurricane Maria in 2017. Our collaborative approach to developing these Resilience Hubs helps bring direct capacity building to communities and can be leveraged to help Puerto Rico to meet its goal of 100% renewable electricity."

The solar and storage installations were developed by local solar installer GenERA. Four of the five installations have been completed and are now in operation, while a fifth is under construction and will be completed later in September 2024.

The five communities where the Resilience Hubs are located include:

1. Calabazas Arriba, Yabucoa
2. La Calle Abajo y Sus Vecinos, Lajas
3. Cubuy, Canóvanas (under construction)
4. Guayabota, Yabucoa
5. Villa Esperanza, Toa Alta

In the future, IREC will be working with five additional communities to develop other Resilience Hubs. Communities are invited to contact IREC for more information.