Energy Resilience Assessment for Culebra, Puerto Rico

Culebra, Puerto Rico, is in the Caribbean Sea between the main island of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Since the impact of Hurricane Maria on September 20, 2017, the main underwater electric line that powered Culebra has not been in service and electricity was out for approximately 3 months. The time to repair the underwater electric line was estimated to be 5 years at the time of the site visits in May of 2018; in the meantime, two 2-MW diesel generators provide a total of 4 MW of electricity to the island. The status of the electrical grid throughout the Puerto Rican islands has been evolving continuously after Hurricane Maria. Renewable energy hybrid (diesel generator plus PV plus battery) microgrids can provide more resilient power and increase survivability to minimize the devastating effects of future storms. The major goal of the site assessments was to identify potential locations where renewable energy hybrid microgrids could promote the energy resilience of critical infrastructure and determine potential ground areas for solar PV.