The Inter-American Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor addressed the renewable energy targets outlined by Pedro Pierluisi, Governor of Puerto Rico, back in March 2023. The publication featured a Q&A with some experts in the matter, including Arthur Deakin, Director of the Energy Practice at Americas Market Intelligence.
Here is what Deakin said:
Even before the hurricanes hit the island in 2017, Puerto Rico suffered from gross mismanagement and corruption among top officials of PREPA, the island’s public utility. Although the situation has improved since the LUMA Energy consortium took over in 2020, redtape and cronyism has prevented the rapid deployment of federal funds for the development of the grid infrastructure. Pierluisi’s forward-looking targets are nice-sounding, but the reality is that he is merely trying to distract the public from recent corruption scandals. This is common in Puerto Rican politics, where corruption, economic struggles and public pressures can knock out governors in a span of months. What will significantly change the island’s energy sector are the incoming federal funds, which may be used for microgrids mixed with storage and distributed generation solutions. The island also has plenty of renewable resources, both solar and wind, which should help eliminate its dependence on hydrocarbon imports. Other Caribbean islands could use Puerto Rico as a warning sign to start investing in distributed, renewable sources while simultaneously investing in grid infrastructure. It seems that Barbados is leading the charge.
Feel free to download the whole article from Energy Advisor, including Deakin’s opinion. Click here.
Arthur Deakin
In leading AMI’s energy practice, Arthur oversees dozens of studies in the sector, focusing on market feasibility, ESG due diligence, market entry, opportunity benchmarking, partnering studies and other strategic areas for energy companies operating in Latin America.
