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    AES Corp. Affiliate Receives $861M+ from DOE to Build 2 Utiity-Scale Solar PV + Battery Storage Farms in Puerto Rico

    July 18, 2024
    Together, the projects will add more than 200 MW in solar pv and nearly 300 MW in battery storage capacity into the island territory’s grid
    AES Corp
    66991224fd374506954f21d2 Aes Corp
    An affiliate of utility and energy developer AES Corp. has gained a conditional loan guarantee of up to $861.3 million to build two utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) farms coupled with battery storage in Puerto Rico.
     
    The commitment by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) will empower Clean Flexible Energy LLC to finance the construction of solar plus storage sites in Salinas and Guayama, Puerto Rico. Together, the projects will add more than 200 MW of solar PV and nearly 300 MW of battery storage capacity to the island territory’s grid. 
     
    Puerto Rico’s grid has been proven vulnerable to repeated hurricanes and other weather events that have destroyed transmission links from power stations to customers on the other end of the island. Many see more distributed and decentralized energy resources as the solution to such logistical and climate challenges.
     
    Clean Flexible Energy LLC is an indirect subsidiary of AES Corp. and Total Energies Holdings USA, managed under a joint venture agreement between the two companies. The project will be financed through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment program created with the passage of the federal Inflation Reduction Act. 
     
    The Jobos site will comprise 80 MW in solar and 110 MW in battery energy storage systems, with an on-site step-up substation and a 1,000-meter, 115-kilovolt (kV) transmission line. Jobos will be owned by the Puerto Rican Industrial Development Co.
     
    The Salinas site will include a 120-MW solar farm and 175 MW in battery storage, along with the substation and a 4,717-meter and 11-kV line. According to the DOE report, the transmission will connect Salinas to an existing substation on a nearby solar PV development owned by Ciro Group LLC.
     
    The LPO’s financing conditions include an expectation that the borrowers develop and implement a comprehensive community benefits plan that ensures local and labor engagement and strong workplace and safety standards. 
     
    In late 2022, President Biden authorized $1 billion to establish a Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office.
     
    Commercial and industrial entities are also developing microgrids and other on-site power decarbonization plans for their facilities in Puerto Rico. Eaton, working with Enel North America, installed a solar-storage microgrid to power its manufacturing facility in Arecibo, while distiller Bacardi last year commissioned a propane-powered combined heat and power facility at its operations in Catano. 

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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