The cancellation affects 30,000 low-income families in rural areas and comes as the island remains mired in an energy crisis nearly a decade after Hurricane Maria devastated its infrastructure.
The Trump administration has canceled multimillion-dollar solar projects in Puerto Rico aimed at helping low-income families as the island grapples with chronic power outages and a deteriorating electrical grid.
In an email obtained by the Associated Press, the U.S. Energy Department said that a push by Puerto Rico’s former governor for 100% renewable energy “threatened the reliability of its energy system.” The department canceled three programs on January 9, including one worth $400 million, that would have provided solar and battery storage systems to low-income homes and residences with medical needs.
“The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the department stated. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”
Javier Rúa Jovet, public policy director for Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, disputed that characterization. Some 200,000 families across Puerto Rico already rely on solar power that generates close to 1.4 gigawatts of energy daily, he said. The inverters in those systems also help regulate fluctuations across the grid.
“That’s helping avoid blackouts,” he said. “It’s a tragedy, honestly. These are funds for the most needy.”
Shelved Projects, Stranded Communities
One canceled program would have financed solar projects for 150 low-income households on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra. Dan Whittle, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund overseeing that project, said residents are frustrated.
“The people are really upset and angry,” Whittle said. “They’re seeing other people keep the lights on during these power outages, and they’re not sure why they’re not included.”
A privately funded project installed solar panels and batteries on 45 homes in Puerto Rico a week before Hurricane Fiona struck in September 2022. Whittle said he was puzzled by the federal government’s decision.
“They are buying hook, line and sinker that solar is the problem,” he said. “It could not be more wrong.”
A Decade of Deterioration
The canceled solar projects were part of a $1 billion federal fund that Congress created in 2022 under former President Joe Biden to help boost energy resilience in Puerto Rico. The island has been struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria, which struck in September 2017 and devastated an electrical grid weakened by years of deferred maintenance and underinvestment.
Major blackouts have persisted since Hurricane Maria, with widespread outages hitting on New Year’s Eve in 2024 and during Holy Week last year. These ongoing power failures have motivated many residents and businesses that could afford installations to embrace solar energy on an island of 3.2 million people where more than 40% live in poverty.
The energy mix on Puerto Rico remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels. More than 60% of the island’s energy comes from petroleum-fired power plants, 24% from natural gas, 8% from coal, and 7% from renewables, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Debt and Grid Management Disputes
Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González had sued Luma Energy, the private company overseeing the island’s transmission and distribution of power, just a month before the solar cancellation. She said the electrical system “has not improved with the speed, consistency or effectiveness that Puerto Rico deserves.”
The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which controls the island’s power system, carries debt exceeding $9 billion and has struggled to reach an agreement with creditors on restructuring the debt.
The Energy Department said it would reallocate up to $350 million from distributed solar systems to support improvements in Puerto Rico’s power generation capacity. It was not immediately clear if that funding has been allocated.