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SESA seeks Puerto Rico’s inclusion in energy studies

Writer's picture: The San Juan Daily StarThe San Juan Daily Star


Javier Rúa-Jovet, director of public policy at the Puerto Rico Solar and Storage Association
Javier Rúa-Jovet, director of public policy at the Puerto Rico Solar and Storage Association

By The Star Staff


The Puerto Rico Solar and Storage Association (SESA) asked U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm late last week to issue an order that guarantees that Puerto Rico is included in reports funded by the federal Energy Department (DOE) in the United States and its territories.


Currently, Puerto Rico is not part of all the reports that are produced.


The information was contained in a SESA statement issued last Thursday.


Javier Rúa-Jovet, director of public policy at SESA, said that “too often, Puerto Rico is excluded from national reports and studies.”


“For example, Puerto Rico has historically been omitted from NREL [National Renewable Energy Laboratory] reports on the progress of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), despite the fact that the island has enacted and faced difficulties in implementing such policies,” Rúa-Jovet said. “We need to be part of these studies at the national level since it is crucial to have real visibility of the progress of renewables locally and on which critical areas we should focus.”


In Puerto Rico, important laws have been passed that have not been fully implemented to date, even though they are implemented predictably and consistently in other jurisdictions. For example, Act 17, passed in 2019, requires 40% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2050. Despite this, DOE-funded studies tracking RPS progress in the United States do not include Puerto Rico, leaving the island’s challenges unexamined and unaddressed.


Rúa-Jovet added that “ensuring Puerto Rico’s inclusion in these studies is not just a matter of accuracy, but also of equity.”


“Puerto Rico’s energy challenges, particularly as they relate to renewable energy, deserve to be tracked, analyzed, and addressed with the same rigor and attention given to the states,” he said. “We believe this could be implemented as a formal DOE order and mechanism, institutionalizing the inclusion of all U.S. jurisdictions and providing clear reporting.”

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