Summary
In September 2017, Puerto Rico was devastated by two hurricanes in a row, Irma and Maria, which destroyed the power grid of the island. Louis Berger was commissioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to install and maintain hundreds of fossil fuel generators in an attempt to restore power for critical facilities. During that mission Louis Berger sponsored a pro bono demonstration project to provide solar hybrid microgrid solutions under their social responsibility program “Give Back.” In emergency response situations, the solar hybrid microgrids provide an environmentally friendly, reliable, and affordable alternative to fossil fuel generators. Apart from emergency response, solar hybrid microgrids can be used on a more permanent basis, especially in storm-prone areas, as an additional layer of resilience in the event of a future natural disaster. The first phase of Louis Berger’s charitable program restored power for up to six months at a remote location in the mountains at the children’s shelter Hogar Pequeño Joshua and at the adjacent Perla de Gran Precio Resident Treatment Center. Equally important to the environmental and social issues, the life cycle costing of solar hybrid microgrids can be as low as one-half of the life cycle cost of diesel generators, with operational costs being approximately a third that of diesel generators of the same uninterrupted power. Following the grid power restoration on the aforementioned facilities, the second phase of the program aimed at the long-term cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and resilience of the solar hybrid microgrids, whether they operate independently or connected to the power grid.
Research director
Prof. Spiro Pollalis
Research core team
Dimosthenis Lappas, Research Associate • Judith Rodriguez, ENV-SP
Case study written by
Dimosthenis Lappas, Research Associate • Judith Rodriguez, ENV-SP
