Governor: Nuclear plants won’t be part of island’s energy portfolio

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón

By The Star Staff

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón insisted late last week on her rejection of the development of nuclear energy in Puerto Rico and announced that she will not invest time or resources in the matter.

“At this time, we are not focusing on a single technology. The public policy of the Government of Puerto Rico has shifted toward diversification. So, we are open to all types of technology except nuclear energy,” the governor said Friday in response to questions from the press. “And that is part of my public policy. I know that this energy has evolved a lot, that it is much more economical, that it is much more efficient, but, honestly, I believe that Puerto Rico doesn’t have the environment to consider nuclear energy. Therefore, I am not going to allocate time or resources to evaluate this.”

However, González Colón did not rule out evaluating applications to build liquefied gas interconnections if private electric power operators so request.

“They are not being requested at this time, but I don’t rule out that the energy czar, at some point, will believe that we need more generation than what is currently being processed and will be open to receiving proposals …” she said. “We are not proposing those interconnections at this time. It should be noted that these almost always come from the same companies that are making energy proposals. And right now, we don’t have them.”

The governor’s remarks came in response to statements by Genera PR spokesman Iván Báez and energy czar Josué Colón Ortíz that converting generation plants to natural gas will require the construction of interconnections (gas pipelines) to transport the fuel from a barge to the plant.