Welcome to the October issue of Connect Puerto Rico.

Every month, we look at how decisions made in Washington, San Juan, and beyond shape Puerto Rico’s path toward reliable, renewable power.

This month, a federal court ordered FEMA to revisit its grid-rebuilding plan and factor in solar. It’s a move that could finally change how billions in recovery funds are spent.

A struggling gas company is pushing for another costly contract, the U.S. military is expanding operations on the island, and Bad Bunny continues to use his platform to keep attention — and accountability — on Puerto Rico’s ongoing outages.

Meanwhile, as Hurricane Melissa batters Jamaica, Puerto Rico narrowly escapes another direct hit.

Connect Puerto Rico brings these stories together to show what’s working, what’s not, and where change is still possible for the island’s renewable energy, infrastructure, and workforce development.

A federal judge in Puerto Rico ruled that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) violated environmental law by failing to evaluate solar energy options when deciding how to distribute billions in disaster recovery funds for the islands’ electric grid. (E&E News / Politico )

The decision comes nearly eight years after Hurricane Maria destroyed 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s grid and killed an estimated 3,000 people.

At the same time, the Trump administration said it will redirect $365 million originally set aside for rooftop solar and battery storage to instead harden the existing fossil fuel–based grid.

Roughly $5.8 billion in FEMA funding for grid repairs remains unspent, and 92 percent of approved projects are still incomplete.

The ruling could compel federal agencies to consider distributed renewable energy as Puerto Rico rebuilds a grid still vulnerable to storms, floods, and other extreme weather events.

Solar advocates say decentralized power is a matter of life and death for island residents. Many of the thousands of deaths after Hurricane Maria stemmed from the inability to refrigerate medication or power medical equipment during prolonged outages.

Yet even as rooftop solar has quintupled in recent years and now serves 12 percent of homes, a $30,000 solar power and battery system is out of reach for most families, whose median household income is about $25,000.

Without federal support, Puerto Rico risks deepening inequality where only the wealthy can afford reliable power.

Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) has once again rejected a proposed natural gas supply contract with New Fortress Energy (NFE), directing the government to renegotiate. (*IEEFA)

The latest proposal — a seven-year, take-or-pay agreement — would require Puerto Rico to purchase 40 trillion BTUs of natural gas annually, even if the gas isn’t used. Last year, the island consumed only 31 trillion BTUs, meaning ratepayers would be on the hook for roughly 29% more gas than they actually need.

NFE owns the liquefied natural gas terminal in San Juan Harbor and also controls Genera, Puerto Rico’s private power plant operator. Genera calculated the demand projections for the proposed contract without independent verification.

The oversight board has ordered the government to independently review those numbers. Meanwhile, NFE recently warned investors there is “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue operating.

The contract would lock Puerto Rico into overpaying for unneeded natural gas, diverting money away from renewable energy and tying the island’s energy system even more tightly to a single, financially unstable supplier.

The obvious conflict of interest is that Genera operates Puerto Rico’s power plants and would use more of its parent company’s gas if this contract were approved.

NFE’s track record also raises concerns. The company has repeatedly failed to deliver gas — including multi-week outages in 2021–2022 and again in late 2025 — and even delayed shipments this summer after the first version of the contract was rejected.

Analysts warn the company appears to be treating Puerto Rico as a captive revenue source to stabilize its troubled finances.

*The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA is, a nonprofit energy think tank.

The U.S. military has turned Puerto Rico into a major staging ground amid an unusually large buildup in the Caribbean since summer 2025.

As part of the Trump administration’s “war against narcoterrorism,” Puerto Rico is hosting new advanced military hardware including F-35B Lightning II jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones capable of carrying laser-guided missiles, and an AC-130J Ghostrider gunship.

More than 6,000 sailors and Marines are now operating in the region, supported by eight Navy warships across Caribbean waters. (AP)

Puerto Rico is being used as a forward operating base without input from its residents, who remain U.S. citizens without voting representation in Congress or the ability to vote for president.

The buildup comes as the island still struggles with basic infrastructure needs ranging from unreliable electricity to unspent disaster recovery funds. While high-tech aircraft touch down on Puerto Rican airstrips, thousands of residents continue to face outages and delays in rebuilding.

The military assets are landing at José Aponte de la Torre Airport, the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, which the Navy closed in 2004 and disposed of as surplus. The facility is now being used as a staging area for operations without public discussion about whether this marks a permanent return of major U.S. military presence to the site. 

The Navy states it has "no plans to permanently use Roosevelt Roads," according to a US defense official. However, Puerto Rican senators recently introduced Senate Resolution 286 to investigate "the feasibility and impact of potentially repurposing Roosevelt Roads for national security" and its role in "economic revitalization of Ceiba and the surrounding municipalities" (The War Zone).

Connect Puerto Rico has received support from the Listening Post Collective to launch a new community listening project over the next few months.

This work will help bring more Puerto Rican voices into the conversation, deepen our audience insights, and guide our reporting toward the solutions people need most. It’s a major step forward, and we couldn’t have reached this point without your support.

As we launch this project, we’re looking for partners who share our vision. If you’re working on renewable energy, policy, or community engagement in Puerto Rico, let’s connect.

💌 Reply to this email to ask questions, share your knowledge, or connect us with someone we should talk to.

The NFL's announcement that Bad Bunny will headline the February 2026 Super Bowl immediately sparked backlash from conservative voices and threats of ICE presence at the game (MSNBC). 

The Super Bowl half time show will give a large stage to an artist who has consistently used his platform to spotlight Puerto Rico's crumbling infrastructure and fight for his home.

Roc Nation founder Jay-Z, who oversees the Super Bowl booking, said what Bad Bunny has "done and continues to do for Puerto Rico is truly inspiring" (AP).

When Puerto Rico endured another blackout in April 2025, Bad Bunny captured the island's frustration in five words: "¿Cuándo vamos a hacer algo?" ("When are we going to do something?") (We Are Mitú)

More than 1.4 million people lost power in yet another complete grid failure during Holy Week. But Bad Bunny's commentary on Puerto Rico's blackouts has been a recurring theme in his music.

In 2022, Bad Bunny put out "El Apagón" ("The Blackout"), a nearly 23-minute documentary-style music video that directly criticized LUMA Energy while showing how gentrification displaces Puerto Ricans even as basic services like electricity remain broken. (Billboard) 

The video, directed by Kacho López Mari and featuring independent journalist Bianca Graulau, directly criticized LUMA Energy, Act 22, (a widely opposed tax incentive program that attracts wealthy outsiders to Puerto Rico) and coastal gentrification (the sale of land and beaches to wealthy foreigners). 

News reports in the video highlighted LUMA, the company hired to "modernize and maintain" the island's power grid, and the little action they've taken to fix electricity issues.

In September 2024, ahead of the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Bad Bunny released "Una Velita," addressing how the island's infrastructure, particularly its continued blackouts due to a weakened power grid, has yet to recover from the catastrophic hurricane. (Billboard)

His January 2025 album "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" ("I Should Have Taken More Photos") is steeped in nostalgia and references to Puerto Rican culture, including songs like "Lo Que Pasó a Hawaii" ("What Happened to Hawaii"), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico's autonomy that warns against the same colonial displacement Hawaii experienced.

His summer 2025 residency "No Me Quiero Ir De Aquí"  ("I Don't Want to Leave Here"), made a statement by prioritizing Puerto Ricans for the first nine shows. The 30-show run brought half a million people to the island and generated an estimated $733 million for the local economy. During performances, he sang "El Apagón" again and again, keeping Hurricane Maria's aftermath and chronic power outages in the spotlight (CNN).

In his album's closing track, he makes his commitment clear: "De aquí nadie me saca, de aquí yo no me muevo" ("No one'll kick me out of here, I'm not going anywhere") (NPR).

Princeton professor Yarimar Bonilla pointed out that Bad Bunny's question isn't really a question, it's acknowledgment that Puerto Ricans are already building grass-roots solar networks, reclaiming beaches, and creating community solutions (New York Times via DNyuz).

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Hurricane Melissa intensified to Category 5 strength Monday with 175 mph winds as it bore down on Jamaica, where forecasters warned it would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record-keeping began in 1851 (Associated Press). This makes 2025 only the second Atlantic hurricane season on record with more than two Category 5 storms, the other being 2005, which featured Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma (Scientific American).

The storm killed at least seven people across the northern Caribbean before reaching Jamaica—three in Haiti, three in Jamaica, and one in the Dominican Republic (ABC News). Landfall was forecast for Tuesday morning near Kingston, bringing up to 40 inches of rain and a 13-foot storm surge that threatens the city's airport, power plants, and critical infrastructure (NPR).

Puerto Rico experienced only indirect effects. While the National Weather Service warned of scattered showers, isolated thunderstorms, and a limited to elevated risk of localized flooding throughout the week, no tropical alerts were issued for Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas Source). The storm tracked west of the island, sparing Puerto Rico from direct impact. A moderate to high risk of rip currents is expected at north-facing beaches as swells from Melissa reach the islands.

This is the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica on record. It would be the strongest hurricane to hit the island since record keeping began in 1851, with up to 40 inches of rain forecast for some areas. Melissa was forecast to make landfall on Jamaica Tuesday and then Cuba later in the day before heading toward the Bahamas, but was not expected to affect the United States.

Climate change is fueling more intense storms. Melissa underwent extreme rapid intensification, strengthening from a 70-mph tropical storm to a 140-mph Category 4 hurricane in about 24 hours, twice the official threshold. With rising ocean temperatures, more storms are expected to undergo rapid intensification and to intensify at faster rates. Seven Category 5 storms have occurred in the past three years.

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.