Welcome to the January issue of Connect Puerto Rico,

If you’ve been paying attention to Puerto Rico’s energy and fiscal debates, the past few weeks have likely felt familiar, and a little unsettled.

The PR100 — a federally funded study meant to guide long-term energy planning — has been pulled offline just as questions about new investments and priorities come to the fore. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are asking whether the island’s power grid can support growing electricity demand tied to artificial intelligence, and what kinds of generation those demands might invite.

Meanwhile, the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) — the body that ultimately controls Puerto Rico’s budgets and debt — remains in flux. Three members of are serving under provisional reinstatement while a federal appeal moves forward, leaving key decisions in a holding pattern during negotiations over the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)’s debt and electricity rates.

That uncertainty sits alongside a quieter but telling gap. New reporting from el Centro de Periodismo Investigativo shows the FOMB has gone more than a year without releasing required financial disclosures, limiting public insight into potential conflicts of interest at a moment when oversight matters most.

Together, these developments sketch a picture of decision-making that continues to move ahead, even as public access, stability, and accountability lag behind.

A group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Energy calling for the PR100 website to be restored (letter to DOE).

The PR100 site previously served as the public hub for the federally funded Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study.

In their Jan. 12 letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the lawmakers ask why the site was removed and request that it be reinstated by Feb. 12, 2026.

They argue the website was central to the study’s purpose, giving policymakers, researchers, and the public access to data, summaries, and analysis developed over more than two years with federal funding.

While the PR100 reports and datasets still exist elsewhere online, the lawmakers say those alternatives are harder to navigate and lack the clarity of the original site. Removing it, they warn, weakens the study’s usefulness and visibility.

The PR100 was commissioned to inform Puerto Rico’s legally mandated transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2050. The study was designed to make its findings publicly available, so policymakers and other stakeholders could review the data and scenarios behind energy planning decisions.

In the letter, lawmakers say removing the PR100 website limits access to those materials as federal and local agencies consider major energy and infrastructure investments. They argue that public access is needed to evaluate how the study’s findings are being referenced and applied.

The lawmakers also cite recent cancellations affecting billions of dollars in federal renewable energy funding and loans for Puerto Rico, arguing that reduced access to PR100 adds uncertainty as those decisions are made.

The Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100) is a U.S. Department of Energy–led analysis modeling how Puerto Rico could achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2050.

The PR100 study does not prescribe a single plan. Instead, it presents multiple scenarios designed to inform decision-making by government agencies and other stakeholders.

The PR100 study maps pathways to 100% renewable electricity using data on Puerto Rico’s energy system, land use, and infrastructure. It evaluates different technology mixes, timelines, and policy options to show how various approaches could perform under different conditions.

The study examines what is technically feasible, including:

The PR100 study also models trade-offs and barriers, including:

Public access to the PR100 study matters because analyses like this are used to inform planning and investment decisions. In its final report, the Department of Energy notes that the PR100 study was coordinated with LUMA Energy to help inform the utility’s Integrated Resource Plan.

Learn more:

Puerto Rico House lawmakers are launching an investigation into whether the islands’ power system can meet growing electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence technologies. (San Juan Daily Star)

Rep. José Aponte Hernández is leading the effort alongside Rep. Ángel Morey Noble, following the filing of House Resolution 488, which directs the House Government Committee to examine power generation capacity across Puerto Rico.

The investigation will assess the capacity of individual power plants and project electricity demand over the next five years, including potential increases tied to AI-driven data centers.

AI technologies — particularly large language models — require significant computing power, and with it, enormous amounts of electricity.

Lawmakers cited U.S. Department of Energy data showing that electricity use by AI platforms exceeded 183 terawatt-hours in 2024, accounting for about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity consumption — more than the annual energy use of several countries.

Puerto Rico’s grid already faces reliability and capacity challenges. The investigation raises questions about how new, energy-intensive industries could affect grid stability, infrastructure investment priorities, and long-term planning for generation and transmission as demand grows.

This newsletter is free. If you’re not subscribed yet, you can sign up to read the full issue and get future editions delivered to your inbox.