Puerto Rico Energy Planning Resources Workshop Report

In March 2019, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) hosted two full-day workshops in Puerto Rico to engage with a broad range of stakeholders to understand local energy planning needs and deliver relevant tools and training. The morning session included a welcome by DOE and NREL, an overview by DOE of the current effort to provide support during Puerto Rico's energy system recovery, and facilitated a panel with local stakeholders. After a break, NREL and other national labs presented tools for stakeholders to use, followed by facilitated small group discussions and brainstorming on energy planning needs, a report-out, and voting to determine which needs are of highest priority. The afternoon entailed three break-out sessions on specific topics. This report provides an overview of the event and describes results in the form of stakeholder input collected during the registration process as well as during the events themselves. Key takeaways include the need to build more local institutional capacity, and needs identified by stakeholders such as identifying local sources of financing, additional training related to microgrids and resilience, energy efficiency, and facilitation of distributed energy resources on the grid, among other topics.