The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) has given the island’s first electric power co-op the go-ahead to operate its microgrids after it corrected issues with its contract model.
La Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña (CHM) was formed in 2019 to generate renewable energy to communities in the island’s mountainous central region.
Its goal is to deliver solar energy and revive hydro plants in the mountains, which had been mothballed in the 1960s when the island switched to cheap imported coal as a power source. This has now left Puerto Rico vulnerable to a volatile fossil fuels market, pushing up prices and generating carbon emissions.
The island also has a fragile transmission grid and it is hoped the co-op will reduce outages by distributing electricity independently from the main grid.
Last week, PREB gave CHM the green light to run its microgrids, which it is rolling out through remote communities, after the co-op corrected deficiencies found last month in its service contract model.
CHM submitted a revised contract model on 30 December and PREB confirmed that the outstanding elements had been addressed. They included listing all applicable rates and charges, detailing conditions for service suspension and reconnection, providing customer contact information for inquiries and complaints, and establishing procedures for contract termination by either party.
The co-op operates microgrids using solar panels and battery storage, which are owned by their users. Member-owners must allow the community to use their electricity during outages – crucial to enable people to continue essential functions like refrigeration of medicines, or treatments like dialysis.
The micrigrids, set up through the Resiliencia Energética Fotovoltaica Comunitaria project (ReEnFoCo) will install hundreds of photovoltaic systems – 5mW in the first phase – on the roofs of local businesses, churches and other community centres, and some residences of the more remote towns of Adjuntas, Jayuya, Lares, and Utuado.
The co-op is also developing its Microgrid of the Mountain – the first intermunicipal microgrid in Puerto Rico which will combine the output of hydroelectric plants and photovoltaic systems to power new 38-kilovolt lines between the mountain towns.
The goal is to offer cost-effective renewable power with greater energy resilience to natural disasters.
In terms of hydro power, the co-op is working on the acquisition, restoration and generation of electricity through the plants of Caonillas and Dos Bocas, which are currently underused or in total disuse. When built, these plants could generate 43 mWh but this has fallen to six, on a sporadic basis.
The plants have received now significant improvements since construction, the co-op says, but it hopes their capacity can be restored to 50 mWh.
