Trump Cancels Puerto Rico Solar Project for Low-Income Families
the governance of U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled solar projects in Puerto Rico worth millions of dollars,as the island struggles with chronic power outages and a crumbling electric grid.
the projects where aimed at helping 30,000 low-income families in rural areas across the U.S. territory as part of a now-fading transition toward renewable energy.
In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the U.S. Energy Department said that a push under Puerto rico’s former governor for a 100% renewable future threatened the reliability of its energy system.
“The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the message states. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”
Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that statement in a phone interview Thursday.
He said that some 200,000 families across Puerto Rico rely on solar power that generates close to 1.4 gigawatts of energy a day for the rest of the island.
“That’s helping avoid blackouts,” he said, adding that the inverters of those systems also help regulate fluctuations across the grid.
He said he was saddened by the cancellation of the solar projects. “It’s a tragedy, honestly,” he said.”These are funds for the most needy.”
Earlier this month, the Energy Department canceled three programs, including one worth $400 million, that would have seen solar and battery storage systems installed in low-income homes and those with medical needs.
In its email, the department said that on Jan. 9, it would reallocate up to $350 million from private distributed solar systems to support fixes to improve the electric grid.