[News] Officials in Puerto Rico Are Undermining a Rooftop Solar Movement in Favor of Natural Gas

Mon Feb 10 11:10:29 EST 2020

https://theintercept.com/2020/02/09/puerto-rico-energy-electricity-solar-natural-gas/ 

  Officials in Puerto Rico Are Undermining a Rooftop Solar Movement in
  Favor of Natural Gas

Alleen Brown - February 9, 2020
------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Tremors began shaking_ Puerto Rico just before New Year’s Eve, causing 
anxiety but only minimally disrupting festivities. On Three Kings Day, 
January 6, families across the island observed one of its most important 
holidays, with children awakening to gifts left by the biblical kings. 
In the predawn hours after the celebration, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake 
hit, jerking people out of their beds. Its epicenter on the southern 
coast was mere miles from 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/losdanosacostasurcomplicaranelrestablecimientodelservicioelectrico-2539639/> the 
Costa Sur power plant, which provides about a quarter of 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/losdanosacostasurcomplicaranelrestablecimientodelservicioelectrico-2539639/> the 
island’s electricity by burning natural gas and oil. The jolts knocked 
giant boilers off their bases, opened a fissure in one of the turbines, 
and destroyed the control center where the computers that run the system 
operate. Another natural gas plant, EcoEléctrica, was also damaged.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of the physical damage on the 
island was isolated in the south, all of Puerto Rico was plunged into 
darkness. It was déjà vu for many who had withstood months without 
electricity after Hurricane Maria, when a year and a half 
<https://weather.com/news/news/2019-03-21-puerto-rico-power-restored-hurricane-maria> passed 
before power was fully restored.

The earthquake’s impact on Puerto Rico’s power grid was the opposite of 
Maria’s. During Maria, it was the transmission lines that were destroyed 
across the island. With the earthquake, it was the power plants 
themselves. But in both situations, the problem was essentially the 
same: Puerto Rico’s electric grid is too centralized to be resilient. 
While about 70 percent 
<https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/environment/puerto-rico-earthquake-power-outages-prepa-news> of 
power is generated in the south, 70 percent of demand is in the north.

Earthquake damage at the Church of Immaculate Conception in Guayanilla, 
Puerto Rico, and inside a U.S. Postal Office in Yauco in January.Photos: 
Christopher Gregory

In the rural community of Adjuntas, located in Puerto Rico’s mountainous 
interior, residents struggled with boredom and anxiety as they endured 
aftershocks in darkness. As the days passed, many were forced to throw 
away refrigerators full of rotting food. But, unlike elsewhere on the 
island, some of the most vulnerable community members kept their 
electricity on, thanks to rooftop solar panels installed after Maria.

Thirty-one-year-old Shandia Pérez has three children with autism. Her 
11-year-old daughter’s specialized diet requires refrigeration, and her 
8-year-old son fears the dark, an anxiety that can induce asthma 
attacks, which Pérez manages using a machine for respiratory therapy. 
But electricity was one thing the family didn’t have to worry about 
after the earthquake. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the nearby 
environmental nonprofit Casa Pueblo had identified her family as having 
significant electricity needs and installed solar panels on her roof.

“We have the security that we’ll at least have light,” Pérez said. “As a 
mother, it gives me peace psychologically and emotionally.”

Immediately following the hurricane, Casa Pueblo’s solar-fueled 
headquarters buzzed with community members trying to cope with the power 
outages. After the earthquake, “we were not as busy,” said the 
organization’s board president, Arturo Massol Deyá. The homes of aging 
residents who require dialysis, a restaurant that supplied meals in the 
aftermath the storm, and a barbershop that functions as a community hub 
are just a few of the 150 locations where Casa Pueblo installed panels 
after Maria. The earthquake proved that the system worked.

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Shándia Perez with her daughter Aleysha 
age 4 and Daish age 10. Casa Pueblo installed solar panels in her house. 
Casa Pueblo has teamed with the Honnold Foundation to energize the town 
center as proof that small solar grids are a sustainable way to relieve 
dependence on fossil fuels.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

Shandia Pérez with her two daughters, Aleysha, 5, and Daysha, 11. Casa 
Pueblo installed solar panels on her roof after Hurricane Maria.

Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

The federal and local governments were not as successful in rebuilding a 
resilient power infrastructure.

Within a week of the earthquake, officials were bragging that power had 
been restored on most of the island, but it was a fragile recovery. An 
estimated 20,000 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/sobre7000personaspermanecenrefugiadasenelsurporlossismos-2541395/> people 
remained displaced, with 7,000 living in refugee facilities — many of 
them informal camps, since the schools that have historically been used 
in emergency situations do not meet modern building codes designed to 
withstand earthquakes. The Costa Sur plant will remain out of commission 
for at least a year, according to 
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/puerto-rico-earthquake-costa-sur-power-plant-severely-damaged-hindering-efforts-to-restore-power-to-island/> the 
publicly owned power authority, PREPA. And the electricity enjoyed by 99 
percent of residents was little comfort for the 3,564 who remained 
without power. Occasional blackouts continued.

The earthquake “highlights the fragility of the system in general and 
that we haven’t done much in terms of moving from fossil fuels to 
renewables” or shifting to a decentralized grid, said Sergio Marxuach, 
an expert in energy policy at the Puerto Rican think tank Center for a 
New Economy. “If we had done that, we wouldn’t have seen outages across 
the island.”

For now, Puerto Rico’s electric grid is running on backup units, burning 
dirtier, more expensive diesel. This summer will be a dangerous time. 
Not only does energy demand go up by around 10 percent as the 
temperatures rise, but hurricane season will start in June with Puerto 
Rico running on a compromised system.

If PREPA is unable to pay for new generators, it will have to begin 
forced blackouts throughout the island when summer hits. “I would have 
to suspend service to 20 percent or 25 percent of the customers every 
day,” the island’s top energy official, José Ortiz, said in an interview 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/english/nota/femadeniesprepasinitialrequest-2545502/> 
with the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día. The Federal Emergency 
Management Agency denied an initial application for assistance.

That’s not the way it was supposed to go. Nearly a year ago, the 
governor of Puerto Rico signed a law to much fanfare committing the 
island to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. The press emphasized 
that the system would rely on solar arrays powering distributed 
microgrids, so that if infrastructure went out on one part of the 
island, it wouldn’t impact other areas.

    “Whatever we do now might affect the next two generations.”

But critics say the pledge was smoke and mirrors. Buried in the same 
legislation was a road map for building out natural gas infrastructure 
likely to lock in consumption of fossil fuels and a centralized grid for 
decades to come. That plan has already begun to be implemented. Natural 
gas infrastructure has gone up seemingly overnight. “They’re obviously 
prioritizing natural gas over everything else,” Marxuach said.

At least eight U.S. states and territories have set mandates that local 
energy systems move to 100 percent renewable or clean energy over the 
next 30 years. But whether the ambitious commitments will be met with 
meaningful action is yet to be seen.

There are few places where the stakes are so high and the margin of 
error so thin as in Puerto Rico. If electricity becomes too expensive 
and unreliable — as it is poised to with the impacts of climate change 
intensifying — Puerto Ricans will be forced to abandon the island.

“The important thing is to get it right,” said Marxuach. “Whatever we do 
now might affect the next two generations.”

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Arturo Massol photographed on a farm and 
education center run by Casa Pueblo. It is also the sight of a solar 
powered radio tower for Casa Pueblo’s radio station. Arturo has lead the 
fight against the push for natural gas infrastructure, including 
pipelines on the island. CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

Arturo Massol Deyá at a farm and education center run by Casa Pueblo. 
Massol Deyá is a leader in the movement for community solar on the island.

Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

      A Transition From the Bottom Up

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, the power system’s failure was a key 
factor in the estimated 
<https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/29/us/puerto-rico-growing-death-toll/index.html> 4,645 
deaths associated with the storm. Hospitals and senior homes lost air 
conditioning and refrigeration. Vital communication networks stopped 
functioning in part due to a lack of power. Illnesses and injuries that 
would normally be manageable spiraled into health crises.

In response, a movement demanding an island-wide shift to rooftop solar 
energy was born. For Massol Deyá and his parents — Alexis Massol 
González and Tinti Deyá Díaz, who founded Casa Pueblo — a vision evolved 
of an Adjuntas that relied on itself for electricity and disaster 
management, not the local or federal governments. In addition to 
installing solar panels, Casa Pueblo expanded a farm project to enhance 
the community’s food security.

It wasn’t just resiliency that emerged. Much of Puerto Rico’s politics 
have been defined by lines dividing those who want statehood for the 
island and those who want the island to be independent of U.S. 
governance. It’s a fight that has at times overlooked the immediate 
needs of the people. But another kind of politics was developing in 
Adjuntas. “The people are different. They’ve learned to break the energy 
dependence. They are people who run their own system,” Massol González 
said. It’s a concept known as /auto-gestión/, which roughly translates 
to “self-management,” and which many islanders view as key to breaking 
the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.

As Massol González put it, “Inside a colony, energy independence is 
revolutionary.” Casa Pueblo began to call for no less than an “energy 
insurrection.”

At face value, the momentum for renewable energy seemed to extend to the 
island’s government. In the wake of the storm, Puerto Rico’s legislature 
introduced 
<https://sutra.oslpr.org/osl/esutra/MedidaReg.aspx?rid=124926> a bill to 
shift 50 percent of the island’s power to renewable energy by 2050. 
Potential seed money for the new energy system appeared around the same 
time. The U.S. Congress set aside $2 billion to restore and modernize 
the power grid.

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: The town center of Adjuntas. Casa 
Pueblo has teamed with the Honnold Foundation to energize the town 
center as proof that small solar grids are a sustainable way to relieve 
dependence on fossil fuels.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: Here Adjuntas town center. Casa Pueblo 
has teamed with the Honnold Foundation to energize the town center as 
proof that small solar grids are a sustainable way to relieve dependence 
on fossil fuels.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

The town center of Adjuntas. Casa Pueblo has teamed with the Honnold 
Foundation to energize the town center as proof that small solar grids 
are a sustainable way to relieve dependence on fossil fuels.Photos: 
Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

But there were other forces at play. Puerto Rico had been in a recession 
for more than a decade, and the island’s debt ballooned as Wall Street 
took advantage 
<https://www.npr.org/2018/05/02/607032585/how-puerto-ricos-debt-created-a-perfect-storm-before-the-storm> of 
tax breaks and lax regulations. In 2016, Barack Obama’s administration 
appointed a Financial Oversight Management Board, known locally as “the 
junta,” to control the island government’s spending and come up with a 
plan to pay back creditors. PREPA, the power authority, was responsible 
for a large proportion of the debt: $9 billion.

So in January 2018, then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced that he would 
privatize PREPA. Many Puerto Ricans viewed the move as the latest in a 
series of austerity measures meant to appease debt-holders at the 
expense of the people. Although it’s true that the agency had long been 
plagued by corruption and mismanagement, under-regulated capitalism had 
wreaked havoc on the island — and many doubted that the free market 
would offer rates and resiliency favorable to the island’s population. 
Duke Energy, PSEG Services, and a consortium of utility companies soon 
emerged 
<https://www.wsj.com/articles/puerto-rico-picks-bidders-for-ailing-power-utility-11548000001> as 
top contenders to take over the transmission and distribution system. 
The privatization would give the winner’s shareholders a 
disproportionate say in the island’s future.

    “Inside a colony, energy independence is revolutionary.”

Meanwhile, despite the growing momentum within the government for a 
transition to renewable energy, it was clear that government officials 
did not view organizations like Casa Pueblo as a partner in the shift. 
“With PREPA, we have never been invited to talk about it or discuss an 
alternative,” said Massol Deyá. “We’ve had no support or dialogue at all.”

In fact, Casa Pueblo has long been at odds with the Puerto Rican 
government. Massol González founded the organization to fight plans for 
an open-pit mine, and its early history is recorded in a foot-high stack 
of police files. For decades until the mid-1980s, with the support of 
the FBI, Puerto Rican police intensively surveilled anyone who could be 
framed as an adversary of the government — including environmental 
activists. The files, which Massol González and his family accessed 
after such political surveillance was outlawed, revealed that nearly 
every meeting the organization held had been reported in detail to the 
police. One of Massol González’s closest confidants, it turned out, had 
been working for law enforcement. Massol Deyá, a child at the time, is 
mentioned repeatedly in the documents.

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/15/19: Here Alexis MassolÕs Puerto Rico Police 
Division of Intelligence file. For 40 years the Puerto Rico Police and 
the FBI surveilled individuals and organizations in Puerto Rico as part 
of a mass surveillance program aimed at dismantling the Pro- 
Independence movement. Other political speech was also targeted as was 
the MassolÕs environmental activism. CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The 
Intercept

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: Alexis Massol González photographed at 
Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. Alexis is the founder along with 
his wife Tinti of Casa Pueblo a community organization promoting 
sustainable energy and environmental protection.CREDIT: Christopher 
Gregory for The Intercept

Left/Top: The Puerto Rico Police intelligence division file for Alexis 
Massol González. For 40 years, the police department and the FBI 
conducted a mass surveillance program in Puerto Rico aimed at 
dismantling the pro-independence movement. Right/Bottom: Massol González 
at Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas.Photos: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

The mine was ultimately canceled, and Casa Pueblo went on to beat back a 
natural gas pipeline proposal in the early-2010s. Throughout the fight, 
Massol Deyá, who had also been pushing the U.S. Navy to clean up 
contamination from bomb testing on the island of Vieques, was routinely 
detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security when he flew. 
Although Casa Pueblo’s purpose continued to evolve, it’s not clear that 
the government’s view of the organization ever changed. In the summer 
after the hurricane, Rep. Nancy Pelosi paid a visit to Casa Pueblo, a 
signal that the organization’s goals were becoming increasingly 
mainstream. Later that day, as Massol Deyá returned home with his 
daughter after sharing a meal at a local pizzeria, he was handcuffed and 
arrested by police who claimed that he had been driving drunk.

No fewer than three prosecutors from Puerto Rico’s Justice Department, 
which was led at the time by current Gov. Wanda Vázquez, attended his 
trial. A receipt and testimony from the pizzeria owner would show that 
Massol Deyá had consumed only a Coca-Cola, and the judge dismissed the 
case. To Massol Deyá, it was obviously a smear attempt by Puerto Rican 
officials meant to discredit Casa Pueblo’s work by framing him as a 
drunk and a criminal. Puerto Rico’s Justice Department did not respond 
to a request for comment.

The government’s hostility did little to slow the movement for community 
solar. In October 2018, a coalition of activists, engineers, and 
academics released 
<https://www.elvocero.com/actualidad/presentan-propuesta-para-transformar-sistema-el-ctrico/article_ffc7b87e-c588-11e8-8b0c-eb7566d67453.html> a 
proposal titled “Queremos Sol <https://www.queremossolpr.com/>,” or “We 
Want Sun.” The plan called on elected officials to double the renewable 
energy goal to 100 percent renewables by 2050. Rather than building 
solar installations on land that could be viable for food production, 
the panels would be constructed on dead spaces: rooftops, landfills, 
brownfields, parking lots. The proposal suggested some of the investment 
money could come out of federal hurricane recovery funds.

Queremos Sol allowed for the temporary use of fuels like natural gas but 
demanded a moratorium on new fossil fuel plants. And it called for a 
full audit of the debt and the elimination of commitments that passed on 
the debt burden to PREPA customers.

Power in Puerto Rico is more expensive than in any U.S. state outside of 
Hawaii. Over the lifetime of a rooftop system, it’s cheaper for the 
average energy user to disconnect from the grid and rely on solar panels 
than it is to pay PREPA’s rates, said Agustín Irizarry Rivera, a 
University of Puerto Rico engineering professor and member of the 
coalition that developed Queremos Sol. Within five years, the cost of 
rooftop solar is likely to drop lower than the rates associated with 
imported natural gas.

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico - 8/8/19: A bodega powered by solar power 
installed by Casa Pueblo.CREDIT: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

A bodega in Adjuntas, powered by solar panels installed by Casa Pueblo.

Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

However, installing solar involves a steep initial investment. Without 
sufficient public support, only individuals or communities that have 
money to invest will be able to buy panels. As those with resources 
abandon the grid for cheaper and more resilient solar, the power grid’s 
client base will shrink, forcing rates to rise. The gap between the rich 
and the poor will widen, and Puerto Rico’s most impoverished will be 
left with more expensive, less reliable power. When storms hit, the poor 
will be left alone in the dark — and those who can will simply move 
away, further shrinking the power authority’s revenues.

“There are no technical barriers here,” said Irizarry Rivera. “Political 
will is the impediment to developing renewables around the world, and 
Puerto Rico is no exception.”

Within a few weeks of the energy proposal’s release, Rosselló tweeted 
<https://twitter.com/ricardorossello/status/1052590550069710848> that he 
supported the goal of 100 percent renewables by 2050. But when the 
governor signed the renewable energy legislation, the Energy Public 
Policy Act, last April, advocates for Queremos Sol were not impressed. 
“They did take on the 100 percent renewable energy goal for 2050, but 
that’s where the similarities end,” said Ruth Santiago, another 
collaborator on the plan and an organizer with the Jobos Bay 
Eco-Development Initiative <https://idebajo.wordpress.com/>, which is 
developing 
<https://www.latinorebels.com/2017/10/09/dispatch-from-the-frontlines-of-puerto-rico-in-a-post-maria-world/> a 
community solar system in the south.

Massol Deyá agreed. “They are setting goals they are not intending to 
comply with,” he said. “It’s a means to stop the transition that is 
being pushed from the bottom up.”

      A Caribbean Liquid Natural Gas Hub

Another vision of Puerto Rico’s energy future was emerging in parallel 
to Queremos Sol. Last February, PREPA released 
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesellsmoor/2019/02/12/puerto-ricos-utility-prepa-plans-to-divide-island-into-renewable-energy-microgrids/#2f4aab2d55fc> a 
first draft of its $15 billion Integrated Resource Plan, prepared by the 
multinational industrial firm Siemens, which divided the island into 
eight minigrids, and included a significant investment in solar battery 
storage. It also proposed an array of new liquid natural gas import 
facilities, pipelines, and natural gas-fired power plants.

PREPA’s head, José Ortiz, explained 
<https://www.facebook.com/RepJenniffer/videos/803703289964201/> the plan 
to an audience of executives from the liquid natural gas industry a 
month later at the American LNG Summit, held in Puerto Rico only days 
before the renewable energy legislation passed. Over the next two years, 
natural gas infrastructure would be placed in locations along the four 
cardinal directions of the island, he said, replacing oil-fueled 
generation. Renewables would come later, “as quick as the price 
dictates.” It would be unwise to invest in them now, Ortiz added, when 
in a few years, they would become significantly cheaper.

PREPA’s history of mismanagement was not proving to be an impediment to 
the natural gas buildout, he assured. Investors were already lining up, 
including Singapore-based Puma Energy, a company with ties 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/pumaenergysenalaquecortovinculosconeliassanchezenoctubre-2507720/> to 
Elías Sánchez, a notoriously corrupt political powerbroker on the 
island; New Fortress Energy, whose co-founder 
<https://therealnews.com/columns/democratic-donor-gets-natural-gas-bomb-train-permit-from-trump-admin> is 
a major Democratic Party donor; and AES, owner of the island’s only coal 
plant, for which Pedro Pierluisi, a top contender for the island’s 2020 
governor’s race, once lobbied 
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pedro-pierluisi-puerto-rico_n_5d4637c9e4b0aca3411edbd9>.

The Palo Seco Power Plant seen from across the bay of San Juan. This 
power plant was decommissioned 6months before Hurricane Maria hit the 
island. Its rehabilitation has come under scrutiny because it was 
contracted out to private parties. Local power workers argued that while 
outdated the plant could still be activated to power areas near the San 
Juan metropolitan area instead of relying on lines to be repaired from 
the main power plants in the south of the island.

The Palo Seco Power Plant, which officials plan to rebuild to burn 
natural gas.

Photo: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

PREPA did not respond to requests for comment, but a hint as to why the 
power authority would encourage such investment lies in the campaign 
contribution records of Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, 
the island’s only elected representative in Washington, D.C. Her two top 
contributors since 2016 are Crowley Maritime Corp., which donated a 
total of $12,900, and Saltchuk Resources Inc., which donated $15,500.

Crowley is a major shipper 
<https://microgridknowledge.com/lng-microgrids-puerto-rico/?utm_content=71093555&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook> of 
liquid natural gas between Jacksonville, Florida, and Puerto Rico and a 
contender for supplying PREPA’s proposed gas-powered microgrids with 
LNG. Meanwhile, Saltchuk’s subsidiary TOTE is responsible 
<https://www.saltchuk.com/saltchuk/tote-maritime-puerto-rico-successfully-performs-first-lng-bunkering-at-jacksonville-port> 
for the world’s first LNG-powered container ships, two of which operate 
between Florida and Puerto Rico. The company hopes to spark 
<http://www.toteinc.com/lines-of-business/maritime/> “the proliferation 
of natural gas as a transportation fuel.” The other two such ships 
operating out of Jacksonville, named El Coquí 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLJNN-rBWao>, after a small frog whose 
song is ubiquitous in Puerto Rico, and the Taíno 
<https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20190108/jacksonville-based-crowley-maritime-launches-second-lng-ship>, 
after the Indigenous people of the island, are owned by Crowley. A 
booming LNG business in Puerto Rico would be a boon for those companies 
— and many others. The resident commissioner did not respond to a 
request for comment.

It’s no mystery why the companies donated to González Colón. The 
resident commissioner is an evangelist for LNG on the island. She 
co-hosted the 2019 American LNG Summit with Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, and 
the pair has co-sponsored a bill 
<https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/4370?s=1&r=6> to 
make LNG export easier. At the summit last march, González Colón and 
some of Puerto Rico’s top officials stood up one by one asserting 
support for a common vision: Puerto Rico as a Caribbean hub for liquid 
natural gas. It’s an idea that’s been around since before Hurricane 
Maria — gubernatorial candidate Pierluisi, for example, advocated 
<https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-114hhrg98270/html/CHRG-114hhrg98270.htm> for 
it when he served as resident commissioner — but it gained new traction 
after the storm, picking up Republicans 
<https://theintercept.com/2018/05/05/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-natural-gas/> in 
the States as well as Puerto Rican policymakers.

Resident_Commissioner_Jenniffer_Gonzalez-1581092338

Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón.

Photo: Kristie Boyd/U.S. House Office of Photography

In welcoming remarks <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmrwtJoPCsI> at 
the conference, Rosselló urged attendees from the industry “to at some 
point see [Puerto Rico] as a connector of the Americas where we can not 
only use the LNG, but also become an important hub toward transporting it.”

“After the storm there is opportunity,” he said. “There is a government 
that is willing to make policy changes. There is a clear path of where 
we want to go with LNG.”

Beyond the laudable goal of 100 percent renewable energy, much of the 
rest of the Energy Public Policy Act is in line with that vision. The 
law demands that all existing and future power plants that process 
fossil fuels become capable of handling at least two types of fuel, one 
of which must be natural gas. It also lays out a pathway for PREPA’s 
privatization.

Like Massol Deyá and the authors of Queremos Sol, the public officials 
advocating for natural gas saw the power transition required in the wake 
of the hurricane as a means to develop a new kind of economy. But while 
Massol Deyá’s vision looked inward, toward communities empowered to 
support themselves and their neighbors, the Puerto Rican government’s 
plan was to use the grid rehabilitation to attract outside investors and 
become a key node in a global fossil fuel economy.

Another proposal that will define Puerto Rico’s energy future came in 
April: the junta’s proposed debt restructuring agreement. The junta’s 
vision of Puerto Rico’s future is grim. According to a spokesperson for 
the Financial Oversight Management Board, Matthias Rieker, it’s 
inevitable that people will continue to divest from the grid. “We don’t 
think the Puerto Rican economy is going to grow very robustly. We think 
the population is going to continue decline in Puerto Rico,” he 
explained. The grid is notoriously unreliable, he continued, and 
businesses in particular are beginning to disconnect and operate on 
their own systems.

The unelected board members proposed raising rates for all energy 
consumers via a “transition charge 
<https://grupocne.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PREPA-Debt-Restructuing-3.0-FINAL.pdf>,” 
which would start at 2.7 additional cents per kilowatt hour and 
eventually rise to 4.5 cents. PREPA customers who installed rooftop 
solar panels would pay the creditors’ fee on all energy they used, 
including what they generated themselves, a highly unusual arrangement.

Most people who install solar panels stay connected to the grid to 
ensure consistent access to power. To disconnect entirely and avoid any 
outages would require individuals to purchase an excess of battery 
storage, which can be expensive. Utilities typically charge customers 
for the amount of energy they consume from the grid, minus the amount 
they contribute from their solar panels. A meter measures the amount of 
energy a house is taking in, as well as the amount it is adding to the grid.

The restructuring plan would eliminate at least a few of the dollars 
rooftop solar users save every month on energy — which for some could be 
enough to render solar unfeasible. It would also require PREPA customers 
with rooftop solar to install a second meter to measure the energy 
traveling between the solar panels and the home, since standard meters 
do not measure how much power a home system is pulling from solar. The 
meter could cost as much as $1,000 per home — essentially a regressive 
tax, since it would most impact those with small systems.

    The government’s plan was to use the grid rehabilitation to
    attract outside investors and become a key node in a global fossil
    fuel economy.

Mike Henchen, an expert in utility systems from the nonprofit Rocky 
Mountain Institute, said he’s unaware of any utility in the U.S. that 
charges rooftop solar operators fees on the solar energy they consume 
themselves. The policy conflicts with the renewable energy legislation, 
Henchen and others 
<https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2019/10/seia-u-s-district-court-reject-charges-puerto-rico-solar-customers/> have 
pointed out, which states that the system must facilitate and not hinder 
rooftop power producers’ ability to connect to the grid.

Rieker, the oversight board spokesperson, told The Intercept that the 
Energy Public Policy Act applies to PREPA and not to the junta, and so 
it doesn’t govern the junta’s transition charge. Although the board 
thinks PREPA should stop using expensive diesel, it is agnostic about 
what kind of power the agency should substitute. The charge for solar 
energy consumption is a “matter of fairness,” Rieker argued. “Without 
that requirement, customers who do not have the financial means to 
install their own energy generators or solar panels, or customers who 
cannot install their own systems because they live in apartment 
buildings, would bear higher costs.” He didn’t mention that the charge 
would incentivize wealthier people to leave the grid entirely, after 
which they would bear no transition fees at all.

Marxuach called this “typical BS from the board” and pointed to a report 
from the consulting company London Economics International 
<https://creditorspr.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Redacted-LEI-Report-filed-version.pdf> 
that found that the transition charges will only speed up the decline in 
electricity demand, increasing the burden on those forced to continue 
relying on PREPA, the lowest-income Puerto Ricans.

Overall, Marxuach takes a more conservative view than the Queremos Sol 
advocates. He argues that placing solar on most of the island’s rooftops 
could be a “logistical nightmare,” and that Puerto Rico may need large 
solar arrays. But he says the plans put forward by the government and 
the junta are both illogical.

Hypothetically, you could operate microgrids with a mix of energy, which 
might include small natural gas plants, he told The Intercept. But 
Puerto Rico is running on a shoestring budget, and to be as efficient as 
possible, natural gas plants have to be big and located on the coast, so 
they can access imported liquid natural gas.

PREPA’s integrated resource plan does not account for sea level rise 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/movidasparamantenerlaaeeaflote-2544756/>. 
Furthermore, “Those plants work with a specific kind of grid,” Marxuach 
said. “That forecloses in a way on the smaller producers connecting to 
the grid.” Puerto Rico simply does not have the resources to build out 
one energy grid only to replace it with another a few years later. When 
renewable prices drop, Puerto Rico will remain locked into a natural gas 
energy economy.

“The tradeoff of doing it that way is the resilience component is not 
there,” Marxuach said.

      Changing the Facts on the Ground

Both PREPA’s integrated resources plan and the debt restructuring plan 
still await approval, yet natural gas infrastructure is already being built.

Last March, a groundbreaking ceremony 
<https://www.lngworldnews.com/new-fortress-energy-breaks-ground-for-san-juan-micro-fuel-handling-facility/> was 
held in the capital of San Juan for a facility that will deliver 
imported natural gas to two new generators for the San Juan power plant. 
Soon afterward, officials signed an agreement to widen the San Juan 
Harbor’s channels, allowing for bigger shipments of liquid natural gas.

At another plant in the San Juan area, called Palo Seco, two new 
gas-compatible generators have been installed, and the government is in 
the midst of accepting bids 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/laaeecompletalainstalaciondetresmegageneradoresenlacentralpaloseco-2531783/> for 
the construction of an entirely new gas-fired plant. On the west side of 
the island, in Mayagüez, the conversion of another power plant to 
natural gas is underway 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/lacentralhidro-gasenmayaguezsustituiraelusodedieselporgasnatural-2480978/>.

“My guess is their strategy is, let’s change the facts on the ground, 
and once we get things started it, will be hard to turn back,” Marxuach 
said.

Lydia Díaz Rodríguez helps manage a community farm 
<https://www.facebook.com/pg/proyectoyucae/about/?ref=page_internal> in 
the devastatingly beautiful southeastern municipality of Yabucoa. Lemon 
trees, yuca, and pineapple grow high on a mountain with a stunning vista 
of the turquoise sea. If the government’s plans come to fruition, Díaz 
Rodríguez may someday have a view of a floating offshore LNG import 
facility and a corresponding natural gas plant on land.

Yabucoa, Puerto Rico - 8/16/19: Here agricultural and environmental 
group YUCAEÕs farm. They are vocally protesting the installation of 
natural gas infrastructure in a deep sea port in Yabucoa.CREDIT: 
Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

Yabucoa, Puerto Rico - 8/16/19: Here agricultural and environmental 
group YUCAE's farm. They are vocally protesting the installation of 
natural gas infrastructure in a deep sea port in Yabucoa. CREDIT: 
Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

The YUCAE project, which stands for Yabucoa United for Culture, 
Self-Management, and Ecology, is a community farm in the southeast 
corner of Puerto Rico. The agricultural and environmental group that 
runs it is organizing to stop the construction of natural gas 
infrastructure.

Photos: Christopher Gregory for The Intercept

For years, Díaz Rodríguez pushed for chemical and fossil fuel companies 
operating in the area, such as Union Carbide and Sun Oil, to cut air 
emissions and water pollution and take responsibility for the rampant 
respiratory issues researchers had linked to heavy industry. With the 
recession, many corporations have since left. “We already paid our 
quota. Why do they want to sacrifice us again?” she wondered. The 
organization she leads, called the Yabucoan Committee for Quality of 
Life, is holding community meetings and organizing to stop the natural 
gas infrastructure.

If anywhere is ripe for a popular movement around energy transformation, 
it’s Puerto Rico. Last July, Puerto Ricans poured into the streets, 
forcing Rosselló to resign after the Center for Investigative Journalism 
<http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2019/07/las-889-paginas-de-telegram-entre-rossello-nevares-y-sus-allegados/> published 
private text messages revealing corruption as well as callous jokes 
about the bodies that had piled up in morgues after the hurricane. The 
importance of the power grid and the unelected junta was lost on no one. 
“Ricky resign and take the junta with you” became a rallying cry.

It’s a connection that will remain essential if the movement for 
renewable energy is to be successful. After the earthquake, unused 
hurricane relief supplies, including dozens of cases of bottled water, 
were discovered in a warehouse in the earthquake-ravaged south, 
propelling people into the streets yet again, this time demanding the 
resignation of Rosselló’s replacement, Wanda Vázquez. But many of those 
present were aware of the limitations of that demand.

In the coming months, the fate of Congress’s $2 billion in energy aid 
will be determined, but it’s not Vázquez who will have the final say in 
where the money goes. The funds will be overseen by a former banker 
named Robert Couch, appointed 
<https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_20_008> by 
the Trump administration, and a team of 10 to 15 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/eeuu/nota/huddicequevaaliberarahoraotros1000millones-2541037/> people 
newly dedicated to overseeing Puerto Rican recovery funds. Once a plan 
gets through the fossil fuel-friendly administration, it will also 
likely have to obtain approval 
<https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/vazquezgarcednotenemostemoraquevengaunmonitor-2541271/> from 
the junta.

To Massol Deyá, it’s an example of why the fight for energy independence 
is about more than just electricity. “We’re calling for a goal of energy 
independence for Puerto Rico as a means to start decolonizing island,” 
he said. Massol Deyá doesn’t see Casa Pueblo’s purpose as figuring out 
how to fix PREPA. But the natural gas infrastructure cannot be allowed 
to move forward, he says. “This is forever if they let them do this. 
This is a colony forever.”

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
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