According to an article published late yesterday afternoon by El Nuevo Dia, the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority ("PREPA"), Eng. Juan Alicea Flores, revealed that the public corporation was unable to support, "without risks," sources of renewable energy for those contracts already executed by the Authority. Mr. Alicea is a long-time PREPA engineer with management and operational experience, including substantial experience as Plant Manager at the Palo Seco and Aguirre Power Generation facilities.
Mr. Alicea made the noteworthy admission that he spends "75% of his time attending to renewable energy proponents who already have signed contracts." He also explained that PREPA's current system cannot handle the additional load from the new renewable energy sources, stating that "the units they currently have require six or seven hours to go into service," but that the new renewable energy systems are able to go on line immediately. PREPA's current system can't handle those swings, reported El Nuevo Dia. Nevertheless, Mr. Alicea reportedly assured the public that the Authority would honor existing renewable energy contracts and implored those interested parties to be patient.
The ability of Puerto Rico to generate renewable and sustainable energy is a key component of the Island's economic growth. Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla ran on a platform that included plans to decrease the Island's dependency on fuel oil and to replace a significant percentage of it with cleaner, cheaper, renewable energy sources. The Executive Director's frank and candid comments about PREPA's system limitations should be welcomed. It remains to be seen what impact his pronouncement will have on all of the renewable energy projects already in the pipeline with executed Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in place and those other projects in the planning stages without PPAs. Also, just because PREPA cannot now support all projects does not mean that interested parties should just throw in the towel, as there may be technological "fixes" available to ensure the safety of PREPA's system. The fact is that for Puerto Rico to remain a place conducive for business in the future, the Administration, in cooperation with business interests, must continue its strategy to wean PREPA off fuel oil and further embrace additional renewable energy sources.
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