DOE selects recipients of more than $13M in Puerto Rico for residential solar, battery storage
A mix of community groups and nonprofits were among those chosen last week to receive up to $13.85 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in a bid to connect vulnerable Puerto Rican households to residential solar and battery storage installation options.
Part of a larger $1 billion push to increase resilience among Puerto Rican households, this funding should support direct outreach to up to 40,000 single-family households. First installations for those projects should begin in spring 2024, but outreach should begin earlier.
“For Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable residents, a power outage can be a matter of life or death,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “The success of the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund depends on community trust and engagement, and our DOE team is excited to work with a committed network of local organizations that know the critical needs of their neighbors best.”
The funding award was the second round of selections from the 2023 PR-ERF Funding Opportunity Announcement. In addition to the installations, funds also back education among the populace and, overall, seek to help Puerto Rico both lower energy costs and achieve a 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2050.
Additionally, two qualified organizations – Hispanic Federation Inc. and the Institute for Building Technology and Safety – were selected to guide education, training and consumer protection initiatives in the territory. They could receive up to $10 million from the opportunity announcement, which will go to helping vulnerable households best use their solar and battery systems and ensure their consumer rights.
Some 16 community organizations were also selected for the PR-ERF’s $3.85 million Solar Ambassador Prize, tapping them to assist the DOE in identifying, engaging and assisting with intake processing of qualifying households for solar panel and battery storage installations.
