Challenges lie ahead for Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority as it builds stronger grid

SAN DIEGO – Power has been restored to 99 percent of the residents of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria, but a monumental job remains in order to build a more resilient electric grid on the island, a panel of restoration effort leaders said.

“Congress asked me if PREPA [the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority] is ready for the hurricane season. The answer is no, they’re not ready for the hurricane season,” Carlos Torres, Puerto Rico Power Restoration Coordinator, said at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) 2018 Annual Convention in San Diego this week. “They’re going to be be challenged. The only thing I’m hoping is that they don’t get hit with a hurricane this year. They need a break.”

The devastation caused by Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico’s grid and other critical infrastructure was unlike anything the electric utilities industry had ever experienced before on the mainland United States, Torres testified to Congress in April. Torres, who served as Puerto Rico’s Power Restoration Coordinator since Nov. 2017, had previously worked for more than 30 years for Consolidated Edison in New York. “Without question, this power restoration mission has been the most challenging of my career,” he said at the time.

Although power has been returned to a vast majority of the island, the energy system is still fragile, noted Ahsha Tribble, deputy regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 9 office.

Under current law, Tribble said, FEMA could only restore the transmission system to pre-storm conditions, rather than improve it, with the exception of some infrastructure that was not up to code. Allowing FEMA to go beyond this, she said, would require a change to legislation. Lack of materials, she said, also limited the choices workers had when rebuilding infrastructure.

Typically, this “normal” restoration work is up for two to three weeks before “permanent work” takes place. In the case of Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria, normal work took much longer than several weeks to complete.

“Investing billions of dollars [in infrastructure] makes a difference,” Rob Gould, vice president of communications at NextEra Energy, said. “There’s no question about it, and hopefully the law changes where you can make those investments, whether it’s under duress like a restoration, or you can do it during peacetime mode, if you will.”

Permanent work is expected to begin once PREPA and others redesign the system. The governor has also charged PREPA with updating its emergency plans.

Torres also highlighted an information sharing session he held with PREPA and Florida Power & Light (FPL) on building resilient systems.

“The restoration is only one piece of that puzzle, because they … have this great opportunity to rebuild a new system, and they should be, with open arms, raring to grab every penny to build a new system,” Torres said. “If they don’t seize that opportunity, they’re going to lose it, and they’ve got to think about how they want to move forward.”

The panelists also discussed the work they did to help PREPA set up and implement a communication plan to keep its customers informed about the restoration work.

“You can have the greatest restoration effort in the world, but if you’re not telling your story, it’s not happening as far as the customer is concerned,” Gould said.

Additionally, the panelists discussed the high level of collaboration between utilities and the federal government during the restoration mission and noted that they hope the relationship will continue in order to support and accelerate future collaboration. Tribble also discussed the challenges of improving the federal government’s understanding of the electric industry.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to get used to if we’re going to continue to have this relationship, and I think we are, and I think we should, because the value of what you bring to a restoration process is incredible,” Tribble said. “You usually do it without us, and that’s fine, but there are gonna be situations where we have to work together.”