Puerto Rico Keeps Getting Hammered By Political Storms - CleanTechnica

The article from CleanTechnica highlights the ongoing political and infrastructural challenges Puerto Rico faces, particularly regarding its electrical grid. Puerto Rico, a US commonwealth since the Spanish-American War, suffers from high import costs due to the Jones Act and has a geographically challenging terrain that complicates infrastructure maintenance. The island’s electrical grid, centralized along the south coast and reliant on outdated transmission lines crossing difficult mountainous terrain, was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The US government’s decision to rebuild the grid around centralized fossil fuel generation has been controversial, especially as the island’s residents increasingly adopt decentralized energy solutions like rooftop solar and microgrids. A recent IEEFA report shows that over 10% of Puerto Rico’s electricity consumption now comes from rooftop solar, with about 1.2 gigawatts installed as of mid-2025. The number of solar systems has quintupled in four years, driven by residents seeking to escape the unreliable grid, which has seen worsening outage metrics compared to