On May 1-3, CLDP, in partnership with the Department of Energy, organized consultations for a delegation from Honduras and Guatemala in Puerto Rico to learn more about Puerto Rico’s Microgrid regulations and the market for microgrids. The delegation met with Sandia National Labs, the Puerto Rico Energy Commission, the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO), the National Energy Renewable Labs, and local Microgrid developers. The delegation also toured a community microgrid site developed in partnership with Sandia Labs.

Sandia Labs and the consultants from the San Salvador microgrid project focused on how microgrids can help improve economic development, create jobs, and actually prevent migration. After Hurricane Maria swept through Puerto Rico, many Puerto Ricans moved to the mainland as the lack of electricity cost jobs. By improving electricity quality, reliability and resiliency, microgrids can improve economic opportunities for local populations.

Resiliency was a key issue for investors in the wake of Hurricane Maria to ensure that expensive machinery would be able to operate with minimal downtime. One of the ways to keep investors in Puerto Rico was through developing the microgrid regulations that would allow manufacturers and business parks to have their own grids. The delegation was interested in PRIDCO’s business model as it could be a solution for Honduras’s textile manufacturing industry, but at the same time, raised concern about “stealing” ENEE’s best customers away from them. PRIDCO explained how they conducted market soundings and worked with the different stakeholders to create the RfPs for the industrial parks.

One of the important outcomes was that both the Vice Minister and the Commissioner recognized that microgrids can apply to more than just the rural context, particularly for smart grid and resiliency purposes, but will need guiding regulations to ensure the financial solvency of ENEE and the traditional grid infrastructure.