By The Star Staff
The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) announced Thursday that it will hold workshops in February on the potential use of hydrogen as an alternative source of energy.
The First Technical Workshop initially scheduled for Jan. 10 was postponed to Feb. 7 due to technical matters. The Feb. 7 workshop, or hearing, will introduce preliminary hydrogen strategies and will provide background on global hydrogen initiatives and hydrogen basics.
The energy regulator also seeks to obtain feedback from organizations and their perspectives.
The PREB scheduled a second hearing on March 7 to present findings in terms of the technical potential roles for hydrogen. Another hearing slated for April 11 will present recommendations for the hydrogen strategy.
The hearings will be virtual. All people interested in participating in the technical workshops must request access on or before 2 p.m. of the day before each scheduled hearing by sending an email to secretaria@jrsp.pr.gov, or contacting the PREB clerk at (787) 523-6262.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia signed Executive Order 2022-022 in March 2022 to recognize and adopt hydrogen combustion as a renewable energy source.
“We want to continue expanding energy sources to improve our capabilities to generate electricity with renewable and clean sources for the benefit of the environment, as well as to provide greater stability both in the cost and in the electric power service,” the governor said at the time.
Pierluisi ordered all government agencies to work directly or indirectly on the generation, transmission or distribution of electrical energy, as well as to consider the combustion of hydrogen as a source of renewable energy in the evaluation of projects.
In December, the PREB announced it had hired the market research firm Velerity to evaluate the potential for developing green hydrogen generation projects on the island.
Under the contract that ends in June, Velerity is required to identify the potential of hydrogen as a renewable energy source and the challenges in developing hydrogen-sourced projects, and to create a roadmap that includes public policies to enable such initiatives.