1/21/2024 0 Comments Prepa micro grids![]() ![]() Since austerity measures in 2014 forced many skilled laborers and professionals to retire early and collect pensions before cuts, the company and its electrical systems have been severely underserved. Whatever the vehicle, the push to privatize PREPA is no secret. Four powerful unions representing the company’s near 10,000 employees object to criticisms leveraged at PREPA criticisms they see as vehicles to push a political agenda to privatize PREPA. This detriment comes as a very real complication: PREPA is not only the largest (sole) provider of energy on the island, it is also historically Puerto Rico’s largest employer. According to a press release, they believe that “andled poorly, the can avoid regulation, and ‘cherry-pick’ PREPA’s load, resulting in PREPA’s grid and overall customer base being fragmented or shattered, to the detriment of the public as a whole”. While the company publicly supports microgrids and even utilized them as part of their recovery effort, PREPA claims that a misguided “attempt to promote microgrids can cause serious harm”. As government efforts have stepped up, streamlining the approval process for more microgrid investments in Puerto Rico, PREPA has asked the administration to take a step back. Microgrids (and their private-sector financial backers) represent a real competitive threat to the company racked with debt. PREPA maintains a monopoly over the grid. The outage cascades, as it did this week, and any unprotected energy networks are impacted. Centralized power can be disrupted, as it was earlier this week, and the consequences can spread throughout the grid. These places are also vulnerable by the extension of the larger grid, which is by no means secure. These lines are expensive to install, maintain, and repair, as well as vulnerable to elements that threaten energy stability. On “the edges” of the grid, power lines are stretched up mountainsides and over difficult terrain. This completely connected system comes with real complications. The grid connects all the like-stations on the island and serves as the conduit for almost all power transmissions in Puerto Rico. The facility where the latest outrage originated was a station attached to Puerto Rico’s centralized power-grid. Still, more than half a year after catastrophe, how can Puerto Rico’s vital energy systems still be so vulnerable on such a large scale?Ī central topic of debate between the plans to secure energy-stability in Puerto Rico is the subject of microgrid technology. Granted, the nature of this outage differs from the wake of a category 4 hurricane – the damage is less extensive. However, with more experience and new energy-resiliency, PREPA claimed it would only take them 24 to 36 hours to restore power after this latest development. Prior to this incident, the recovery effort had only impacted about 80% of the population in five months’ time. A cascading failure triggered through the entire system, and, quickly, the entire grid was down. This time, a contractor was removing a collapsed tower when a bulldozer crossed a power line and caused it to fail. ![]() It is being reported that the failure originated from Aguirre Central, a facility that left the entire island without power for three days in 2016 after a plant failure and subsequent fire. After this latest power outrage, however, that number is back down to 0%. Earlier, the very same day as the blackout, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) had reported that 97% of the island’s 1.5 million people had finally had their power restored. This past week, Puerto Rico experienced yet another island-wide blackout, seven months after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. ![]()
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