US says $365 million is available to install solar and battery storage systems in Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday that $365 million is available to install solar and battery storage systems in homes and health care centers across Puerto Rico.

Up to $190 million is available to Puerto Rico’s Housing Administration and a private company to pay for solar and battery installations in common areas for public and subsidized multifamily housing. Another $175 million is available for certain health care and dialysis centers.

In recent years, the US government has released millions of dollars for other projects including solar parks and the installation of solar panels on low-income homes in Puerto Rico.

The announcement comes as the U.S. territory continues to struggle chronic power outages which have since worsened Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017 as a powerful Category 4 storm, devastating the power grid. The outages are also attributed to decades of lack of maintenance and investment in the electricity grid.

In addition, the Electric Power Authority of Puerto Rico still has difficulty restructuring more than $9 billion in debt – the largest of any public institution on the island – almost a decade after the government announced its inability to pay its more than $70 billion debt burden.