New York – Residents of approximately 1,000 homes in Puerto Rico will benefit from rooftop solar systems funded with federal funds from the Community Facilities for Energy and Water Resilience (CEWRI) program.
In an interview with El Nuevo Día this week, Puerto Rico Department of Housing Secretary William Rodríguez said the investment to install the systems amounts to $50 million dollars.
The official explained that the communities were selected based on the level of delay they experienced in getting their electricity restored after Hurricanes Maria and Irma.
The Department of Housing worked in coordination with personnel from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Mayagüez Campus, and Sandia National Laboratories to identify the neighborhoods.
“We conducted an assessment that came to us from the utility companies, among other scientific determinations that were made. That is where we came to the conclusion that these communities were the last to have electric service after the hurricanes,” Rodríguez added.
“They are mostly communities in Orocovis. The community that received electricity service later was the Ala de la Piedra community, where electricity arrived a year later,” the secretary explained.
Other communities that will benefit are: Bermejales, Bauta Abajo, Cacaos, Collores and Damián Abajo.
Rodríguez explained that the agency has completed the registration of 885 families in these districts after visiting each of the homes.
The secretary clarified that the systems will be installed on the roofs of residences to the extent that infrastructure allows, since some of these surfaces are not suitable. In these cases, an alternative structure such as a “canopy” would be used.
The CEWRI program is part of or complements the CDBG-DR R3 program for assistance for Repair, Reconstruction or New Construction.
The allocations to single-family homeowners seek to address vulnerabilities in the energy and water system by installing battery-powered photovoltaic systems for critical loads and water storage systems.
“The national objective of the CEWRI Program is to benefit low- and moderate-income (LMI) persons (below eighty percent (80%) of the Area Median Family Income (AMFI) in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Modified Income Limits for Puerto Rico under the Community Development Block Grant and Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program,” reads an entry on the Department of Housing’s website.
Eligibility Requirements
The local Department of Housing has committed to using 100% of CEWRI program funds on projects that benefit LMI individuals.
On this, Rodriguez specified that the income limit for a family of one person to be eligible for the program is $87,400; for two people the limit is $99,200. In the case of a unit of eight people, the income limit would be $164,400.
Other requirements are that the property must be an R3 Program participant; the applicant must have occupied the property as a primary residence at the time of the hurricane(s); the repaired/rebuilt structure or replacement unit, as applicable, must be the primary residence at the time of application to CEWRI.
Other programs for solar panels in Puerto Rico with federal funds
This program is added to others that are also administered in coordination with federal authorities, such as Nueva Energía.
New Energy is a solar panel program funded with CDBG-MIT funds.
The program covers up to 100% up to a maximum of $30,000 in renewable energy system equipment and installation costs for owners of a single-family structure in which they reside full-time. The household’s family income must also be below the 80% area median income (AMFI).
The application period for the program has ended. Last February, tickets for the second and final round of the federal grant were distributed.
The large number of applications submitted through the Housing website caused the process to close in a matter of minutes. In an interview with El Diario at the time, Rodríguez specified that it was not that the system crashed, but that it received 4,000 online applications in five minutes and 20 seconds, which exceeds the limit of 3,000.
Between the first and second rounds, approximately 9,000 tickets were issued, which is the initial step for evaluating eligibility.
It is unclear how many solar power systems have been installed so far under New Energy.
By January, teams had been activated in about 4,000 homes, equivalent to 16% of the final goal. Rodriguez said that, by the end of the year, they hope to have completed the work in 25,000 homes.
Another program that provides financing for rooftop solar panels is Solar Access.
In this case, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Jennifer Granholm, announced the first installations during her visit to Puerto Rico last week.
As part of the eligibility assessment, the Department of Energy is prioritizing installations in communities that have a high percentage of very low-income residents and that experience long and frequent power outages.
The DOE is guided by the tool known as “Last Mile Communities in Puerto Rico” which determines a low-income area with frequent and prolonged power outages.
The federal office is also giving preference to households where at least one resident with a medical condition or disability relies on a device that runs on electricity or batteries.
The program is funded by the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF), which resulted from the approval by the United States Congress of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 in December 2022.
With President Joe Biden’s signing of the statute, $1 billion was authorized for the establishment of the PR-ERF to boost key investments in renewable and resilient energy infrastructure in Puerto Rico. In February 2024, DOE officially announced the launch of the program.
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