Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 05/12/2021 5:58:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
Between the pandemic, Hurricane Maria, and the recent earthquakes, the last four years have been an immense struggle for Puerto Rico. But as the island rebuilds, it must be careful to do so in a manner that corrects past mistakes and lays a stronger foundation for the future. This is especially true for Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure.
Systemic problems with Puerto Rico’s electricity were obvious even before the recent natural disasters. Just two months before Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) declared bankruptcy on $9 billion in bond debt.
In the hurricane’s aftermath, Puerto Rico’s electrical infrastructure was in physical and financial ruins. It took nearly a year before power was restored to all parts of the island. Unfortunately, this led to a focus on getting things rebuilt quickly rather than on getting things rebuilt well.
After billions of dollars in taxpayer funds were spent to rebuild the island’s energy infrastructure, Puerto Rico’s situation was scarcely improved. Then-PREPA Executive Director Jose Ortiz even confessed that the grid would have to be completely remade again. When the earthquakes began in 2019, Puerto Rico’s power plants and grids were again damaged and significant portions of the island were again plunged into darkness.
Recently, the Biden administration announced that it was dedicating $1.3 billion in aid for Puerto Rico to help protect itself from future climate disasters. In typical left-wing fashion, this maneuver is simply throwing more good taxpayer money after bad.
To provide meaningful protections from natural disasters, Puerto Rico should embrace free-market reforms that will bring together the best expertise and experience of the public and private sectors. Last summer, PREPA announced a new public-private partnership with LUMA Energy that would do just that.
Under the agreement, PREPA would continue its ownership of the system with LUMA operating, improving and maintaining the electrical grid. This partnership would help Puerto Rico develop modern electricity infrastructure capable of withstanding future natural disasters. This is critical for the island’s economic growth.
As Jose Carrion, chair of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board, said, “Puerto Rico deserves manufacturing and the service industry jobs created by investors who don’t turn away because its electric power system is unreliable and antiquated.”
Rebuilding Puerto Rico means more than providing Puerto Ricans with access to electricity. It means providing Puerto Ricans with access to jobs. If the island wants to attract businesses and create these jobs, then it must demonstrate to these companies that it can deliver reliable, affordable electricity. A partnership with LUMA could be an important step in achieving that necessary goal.
Unfortunately, some are calling for cancelling this partnership, saying it doesn’t provide enough benefits for Puerto Ricans. Translation: some leftists don’t want anything they can’t control or won’t directly line their pockets.
LUMA has made commitments that will greatly benefit Puerto Rico ratepayers and workers. The company has committed to not increasing electricity rates for at least the first three years of the partnership. LUMA has also promised to prioritize the hiring of local workers and PREPA employees. By March, LUMA already received nearly 15,000 job applications from island residents and soon began construction of a $10 million facility to help train new workers. Should Puerto Rico miss out on this chance simply because do-nothing leftists want an unwarranted piece of the action?
Reliable electricity is the foundation of the modern economy and Puerto Ricans deserve a 21st century electrical system. The LUMA partnership will help shore up a problem that has plagued the island for many years. Big government has already failed Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans should give the private sector a chance.
Thank You for posting!
Ping!
“must demonstrate to these companies that it can deliver reliable, affordable electricity”
Have they no sun in Puerto Rico?
Isn’t Amazon going 100% renewable?
Puerto Rico can lead the way in renewable energy. Give it no other option.
Free Puerto Rico!
Puerto Ricans deserve the government they vote for !!
It’s time for the so called common wealth be dissolved. The experiment has failed give PR their sovereignty. Don’t ask for any handouts
Penal colony. (I just watched Papillion”).
“Puerto Ricans Deserve More Than Empty, Big Government Promises”
Just like the hurricanes demonstrated, if the Puerto Ricans sit around and wait for government workers long enough, somebody may arrive to help them after the emergency rations have long since spoiled in a government warehouse
As somebody who’s worked in the utility/alternative energy business for many years and tried to do some projects in the Caribbean I can chime in on this a little bit
Caribbean islands are just that self-contained and they have their own electric power grid and 80° there and electric power
Generally this is done through giant diesel plants
The utilities there are notoriously corrupt unbelievably corrupt and don’t want any competition at all
That’s even if you’re very wealthy and have a $10 million estate in most islands they will not let you put in your own solar panels
What are the five clients in the past is just to put in a complete independent power system consisting of solar panels batteries and a generator and just tell the utility to screw off
My one buddy who has been doing business down there for a long time and lighting in murder controls called the place “Africa”
It’s very close to the truth
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Ooh ooh mr kotter. I know.
Make Puerto Rico a state. That will solve everything
As far as the 2020 election is concerned, it was a fradulent, stolen election. I.e., President Trump easily won both popular and electoral vote.
I'm sorry to say that for the most part, we get the government we vote for - the 2020 election being an exception. Frankly, the American electorate is generally stupid lacking critical thinking skills and completely devoid of grasping cause and effect - when it come to those they put in office.
Just look at those we put in office!!
An indépendant Puerto Rico would make a deal with the Chicoms. Corruption does that.
The Puerto Rican people deserve a lot of things, especially honest. Their leadership everywhere are corrupt to the core and that is why the electrical grid was so badly deteriorated and the devastated by the hurricane. That is why President Trump was so reluctant to step in and bail out the corrupt corporation.
it starts at the ballot box.
Let’s just give them a lot of money.
Surely they know how to spend it wisely.
“What are the five clients in the past is just to put in a complete independent power system consisting of solar panels batteries and a generator and just tell the utility to screw off.”
I am not clear what you are trying to explain in the above sentence.
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