AI-generated illustration depicting community solar installation amid renewed federal pressure on Puerto Rico’s grid plan.
(Art by DALL·E 3, art direction by Jillian Melero, Nov. 25, 2025.)
Welcome to Connect Puerto Rico, where community expertise leads the conversation on energy and resilience.
Communities across Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and the border region face many of the same challenges: unstable energy systems, flooding, climate pressure, and infrastructure that breaks when people need it most.
Last week, I joined a panel hosted by the Center for Community Resilience Research Innovation and Advocacy (CCRRIA) at UT Rio Grande Valley, where researchers and journalists asked a simple but urgent question: How do we learn from each other as storytellers and communicators to strengthen community resilience?
The moment felt especially meaningful because CCRRIA’s organizers — Dr. Cecilio Ortiz Garcia and Dr. Maria Perez Lugo — were my hosts during a 2019 reporting trip on Puerto Rico’s post-María recovery. Their work shaped my early understanding of energy and community power, and directly influenced the thinking that would become Connect Puerto Rico.
Two more voices who shaped my early understanding of energy in Puerto Rico show up again in this month’s issue.
The first is Kari Lydersen, whose new reporting for Canary Media breaks down what FEMA’s latest grid decisions could mean for distributed solar. Kari introduced me to Marla and Cecilio. (And she often helps me by reviewing the newsletter and offering edits.)
The second is Prof. Marcel Castro Sitiriche — one of the first experts I interviewed about Puerto Rico’s potential for rooftop solar and microgrids — featured in a new video by independent journalist Bianca Graulau.
Together, their work reinforces something we see across Puerto Rico: the most durable solutions come from people rooted in the communities most affected
In This Issue
FEMA’s Grid Plan Challenged as Distributed Power Gains Ground
📰What Happened
FEMA’s grid-rebuild plan in Puerto Rico is under renewed pressure after a federal court ruling forced the agency to reconsider alternatives that prioritize distributed solar over the island’s centralized, fossil-fuel system. A new report from Canary Media digs into what’s at stake and why the outcome matters for communities already living with frequent outages and high energy burdens.
Last month, we covered the court ruling (via IEEFA/E&E News) that forced FEMA to redo its environmental review and evaluate rooftop solar, batteries, microgrids, and demand-side alternatives. That ruling stands, but Canary Media shows how much more is on the line than a procedural review.
The Trump administration has already reversed key Biden-era commitments to distributed generation — canceling $156 million for low-income solar in Puerto Rico and redirecting $365 million in rooftop-solar funds toward hardening the centralized, fossil-fuel grid.
💡Why it Matters
Communities near Puerto Rico’s fossil plants continue to face the highest risks. Most coal and oil generation sits on the south coast, close to low-income neighborhoods that already experience the worst pollution and outages.
Distributed solar is growing, but unevenly. Puerto Rico now has 1.2 GW of rooftop solar, supplying more than 10% of demand, yet 350,000 low- and moderate-income households still can’t access systems without financial help.
Studies from NREL and Cambio PR/IEEFA also point to distributed generation as both viable and cost-effective. A 2020 NREL analysis found rooftop and distributed solar could meet the island’s full energy needs, while a 2021 Cambio PR/IEEFA study found a 75% distributed system would be cheaper to operate by 2035.
Utility-scale solar offers benefits but depends on the same long transmission lines that fail during hurricanes — and it often competes with prime agricultural land.
🔎What to Watch
FEMA’s response: Whether the agency appeals the ruling or meaningfully incorporates distributed options as it revises its grid plan.
Funding gaps: With low-income solar support canceled, 350,000 households still lack access to rooftop systems or batteries.
Resilience vs. land use: Utility-scale solar depends on vulnerable transmission lines and often replaces farmland — watch whether agencies shift more support toward rooftop systems.
Expand the Network
Know someone who cares about Puerto Rico’s energy development or resilience?
Invite them to join Connect Puerto Rico, a community following the people, policies, and projects shaping the island’s clean-energy transition.
Every share helps grow the conversation and the impact.
Uruguay’s Energy Architect and a UPR Engineer Debate Puerto Rico’s Path Forward
📰What Happened
Independent journalist Bianca Graulau released a new video (“La crisis energética de Puerto Rico se puede resolver” — “Puerto Rico’s energy crisis can be solved”) featuring a rare, candid conversation between:
Dr. Ramón Méndez Galain, who helped design Uruguay’s national shift to 99% renewable energy
Dr. Marcel Castro Sitiriche, an engineer and professor at the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez whose research on rooftop solar, resilience, and energy justice contributed to the federal PR100 study — a two-year U.S. Department of Energy assessment of how Puerto Rico could transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2050.
The two lay out competing — and sometimes conflicting — approaches to how Puerto Rico could transition to locally generated renewable energy.
Méndez describes how Uruguay used coordinated public policy, financial restructuring, and regulatory reform to eliminate fossil fuel advantages and cut costs in half. Castro argues that Puerto Rico’s hurricane vulnerability demands a different strategy: distributed rooftop solar and battery storage that can keep homes powered even when the grid fails.
💡Why it Matters
Puerto Rico’s energy system remains fragile. After Hurricane María, households went an average of 96 days without power, with some waiting almost a full year. Today, regular blackouts continue despite billions in federal funds.
The conversation highlights two fundamentally different theories of change:
Utility-scale model (Méndez): coordinated, centralized planning can lower costs and stabilize prices — but requires political consensus and strong regulation.
Distributed model (Castro): rooftop solar plus batteries offer immediate hurricane resilience and already total 2 GWh of stored energy across the island — one of the highest per-capita rates in the world.
Both agree Puerto Rico has the money and the technical capacity to transform its energy system. The remaining barrier is political will.
🔎What to Watch
How federal funds get allocated — Puerto Rico has up to $9B that could support distributed rooftop systems or utility-scale projects, depending on policy direction.
Project pricing and transparency — utility-scale bids (9–12¢/kWh) remain far above global averages, raising questions about contracting and regulatory oversight.
Community-scale pilots — efforts like Barrio Eléctrico will test whether distributed models can deliver collective resilience for vulnerable communities.
Help Shape Our Community Listening Project
We’re mapping how information about Puerto Rico’s energy development reaches people — and where the gaps are. We’re especially looking to hear from people with lived or professional experience, including:
People living or working in Puerto Rico
Puerto Ricans living in the U.S. who work in energy, infrastructure, federal programs, advocacy, or community engagement
People who naturally connect communities across the island and the diaspora
If that sounds like you (or someone you know), your perspective would be incredibly valuable.
👉 Read our announcement on LinkedIn + learn how to get involved
You can also reply to this email to:
Suggest someone we should talk to
Flag emerging issues or communication gaps
Share what you’re seeing in your work or community
We’re especially looking to hear from people with lived experience — whether you’re in Puerto Rico or part of the diaspora.
Your insight will directly shape the listening map and recommendations we publish in 2026!
New Fortress Energy’s Financial Crisis Raises Alarms for Puerto Rico’s Grid
📰What Happened
A new report from the San Juan Daily Star says New Fortress Energy — the parent company of Genera PR — is facing a rapidly worsening financial crisis that threatens its ability to operate in Puerto Rico.
The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that it may seek U.S. bankruptcy protection if negotiations with lenders fail. Its stock plunged 25.6% last week after the announcement. Executives are also considering restructuring through the U.K. courts, signaling the severity of the cash crunch.
NFE’s liabilities have ballooned to $8 billion, compared with just $1.3 billion in assets. A forbearance agreement has delayed interest payments only until December 15, giving the company a short window to stabilize its finances.
At the core of the crisis is NFE’s failure to secure long-term LNG supply contracts for its Latin American operations, leaving the company exposed to volatile spot-market prices. In Puerto Rico, NFE is pursuing a seven-year, $4 billion LNG contract linked to its Altamira, Mexico facility — a deal still under review by the Financial Oversight and Management Board amid concerns over pricing and competition.
💡Why it Matters
Genera PR, NFE’s subsidiary, operates Puerto Rico’s aging 3,600-MW thermal generation fleet under a 10-year public-private partnership. These plants average 45 years old and have long struggled with reliability and emissions. NFE’s financial instability raises doubts about its ability to maintain, modernize, and meet performance incentives tied to cost savings and environmental compliance.
The proposed LNG supply deal could also lock Puerto Rico into a single-supplier arrangement for up to 15 years, a move critics warn would undercut the island’s renewable-energy goals and concentrate too much control in one company.
With NFE’s market cap now at $321 million — a fraction of its debt — analysts question whether the company can fulfill its contractual obligations without a sweeping restructuring.
🔎What to Watch
Bankruptcy risk: Whether NFE secures a restructuring deal or moves toward U.S. or U.K. bankruptcy proceedings.
Genera’s stability: How NFE’s financial distress affects day-to-day operations of Puerto Rico’s generation fleet.
LNG contract review: Whether the Oversight Board approves or blocks the proposed $4B LNG supply arrangement, given concerns about pricing, monopoly risk, and long-term lock-in.
IEEFA: Puerto Rico’s New Power Contracts Could Create Costly Overbuild
📰What Happened
A new analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) finds that Puerto Rico’s government is moving ahead with plans to contract for more than 3,000 MW of new firm generation — far exceeding what the island’s future demand requires. The push is led by the Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3 Authority), which issued an RFQ on October 17 for the construction and operation of the new plants.
But on the same day, LUMA filed its 20-year generation plan with regulators — a plan effectively rendered moot by the P3 announcement, exposing what IEEFA calls a “continued failure of sound energy planning.”
IEEFA notes that this is the latest example of major generation decisions happening outside the integrated resource plan (IRP) process. Similar moves include the contract for a new 560-MW natural-gas plant and plans for 800 MW of temporary generation that could operate for a decade.
💡Why it Matters
IEEFA’s modeling shows the island is headed for a substantially overbuilt system:
Even under conservative assumptions, Puerto Rico’s reserve margin would exceed 85% for years — far above industry norms.
The planned buildout is significantly larger than what LUMA identified as necessary in its own 2024 resource adequacy study.
This overbuild would have long-term consequences:
Higher system costs for consumers, baked in for decades.
Increased dependence on natural gas, driven by politically influenced contracting rather than open regulatory review.
A major setback to Puerto Rico’s 100% renewable energy mandate by 2050, since new gas plants built now would operate well beyond that deadline.
IEEFA also notes that proposed “future-proofing” ideas — such as converting plants to hydrogen or biodiesel — are not realistic: biodiesel is historically 29% more expensive than diesel, and a 2023 Energy Bureau study concluded that green hydrogen is not cost-effective for power generation in Puerto Rico.
🔎What to Watch
Regulatory friction: How PREB responds as P3 Authority decisions bypass the IRP process.
Gas lock-in: Whether new gas projects advance despite evidence they are unnecessary and incompatible with 2050 climate targets.
Cost impacts: Whether ratepayer advocates and the Oversight Board intervene as long-term costs escalate.
🧐 Who’s Behind Connect Puerto Rico? 🧐
Hi, I’m Jillian. I’m a journalist, editor, and founder of Connect Puerto Rico.
I started thinking about what would become C-PR after reporting from Puerto Rico in 2019. While learning about Hurricane Maria recovery, I saw how rebuilding efforts to incorporate renewables, distribute energy, and build grid resilience lacked cross-sector coordination and the input of Puerto Ricans communities and experienced industry professionals.
This newsletter connects U.S. policy decisions to what’s happening on the ground because Puerto Rico shouldn’t just recover from disasters, it should lead in building for the future.
