The energy project provides shelter from the storm

Dozens of mini networks are deployed to schools across Puerto Rico, providing reliable and flexible strength for the island. The project, which features solar energy as well as storage, is an important part of the region’s recovery from a series of natural and economic disasters.

Puerto Rico has been hit by natural disasters in the past few years. The island was hit by devastating hurricanes and earthquakes, all in the midst of a years of economic stagnation.

The economic recovery, which will likely require more investment and private capital from both the American mainland and foreign companies, is an important step in stabilizing life on the island. Part of this recovery will depend on rebuilding and expanding Puerto Rico’s energy infrastructure.

Hurricane Maria in 2017 eliminated electricity across the island, leaving 3.4 million residents without electricity, and highlighted the need to improve old infrastructure for power generation and distribution in the region. It also brought calls for new investment in projects to bring more reliability and flexibility to the energy resource in Puerto Rico.

“We as human beings are very terrified to think about how we plan the future we want, so we need to deal with it,” said Chris Johnson, CEO of Blue Planet Energy, a provider of battery-based micro network solutions. A better future for Puerto Rico. Along with the American Red Cross, Blue Planet Energy has equipped more than 110 schools across the island with solar-powered battery systems, an effort known as the Puerto Rico Solar Schools project.

“We partner with organizations that lead the mission to withdraw things like this,” Johnson told POWER in a recent interview, noting that societies often require education to understand such projects and the benefits of clean energy. He said: “The Red Cross was bringing this vision to Puerto Rico before Puerto Rico knew they needed it.” “Our partners have been providing forward-looking solutions.”

The need became clear after Hurricane Maria. The Solar Schools project has chosen sites designated as emergency shelters by the Puerto Rican Housing Authority, shelters that have been needed in the past few years on several occasions. The sites play a critical role for Puerto Rican communities in times of emergency, providing food and shelter to people affected by natural disasters, and serving as a mission observation center for NGOs to develop a strategy for disaster relief efforts, gather supplies, and deliver recovery plans.

The Solar Schools project provides a so-called “road map of flexibility” for other societies to follow, in both the United States and the world. Its importance is recognized with the POWER Distributed Energy Award.

Solar energy storage +

The Solar Schools project provides 5.7MW of solar energy and 11MWh of energy storage. Schools are equipped with rooftop solar panels, with energy storage provided by Blue Planet Energy’s Blue Ion systems. Blue Ion Ferrous Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries do not require rare metals and remain stable even in difficult physical conditions, such as the tropical heat in Puerto Rico, which is one of the main considerations of school safety and the emergency shelter environment. It also provides 100% discharge capacity, allowing for full battery usage. The Red Cross has chosen Blue Ion for these projects due to the company’s strong support, industry-leading guarantee, and a proven track record in quality and reliability.

strength point

Winning features

Solar Schools Schools project installed two small solar storage networks + in each location – one for the shelter’s kitchen and the other for its living area – to improve flexibility.

✔ After earthquakes struck Puerto Rico in January 2020, the sites were serving as community kitchens for hundreds of residents.

assist a variety of government agencies, NGOs, and private companies assisted in this inspiring rebuilding effort.

The local workforce in Puerto Rico was trained in renewable energy technologies and used for all facilities, which resulted in many new jobs in the region.

Gaby Perez, Puerto Rican regional sales manager for Blue Planet Energy, based in Puerto Rico, told POWER how the project was implemented. “I was in contact with the Red Cross and they wanted to develop projects in Puerto Rico,” Perez said. “There was no non-profit agency before Hurricane Maria was doing any solar projects, so this was totally new for the Red Cross, and this was happening because they didn’t trust the government, because of the reputation due to a lot of delay” in the projects when the cash-strapped government intervened.

“We had a meeting with them and discussed the project,” Peres said. I gave them [a list of] Seven installers in Puerto Rico have the capacity to finance and experience implementation of these types of projects. Before Hurricane Maria, it was the only experiment we had in networked systems. After the hurricane hit, it opened everyone’s eyes to the need for more reliability and flexibility. Suddenly, we had all of these [damaged] The solar panels don’t work, so we brought the batteries. “

Each school has two separate newspapers, one for the shelter / school and the other for the kitchen. Micro grids consist of multiple solar arrays that charge a large battery pack, where the school can store energy for use throughout the night, on cloudy days, when the grid is down, and inverter systems that convert the stored energy into alternative energy that can be used as shelter / school and kitchen.

Lee Vanessa Feliciano, regional executive director of the American Red Cross branch in Puerto Rico, pointed out at a celebration last year of the “International Red Cross Day” to the Solar Schools Project. Feliciano said: “It is our pleasure to know how far we have come to this project which will be beneficial not only to the school, but to the entire community adjacent to the school.”

Perez said the project was also important during the Corona virus pandemic. “Schools provide food during COVID-19, and after the earthquake,” he said, referring to the earthquake swarm that hit the island over several days in late December 2019 and early January this year. At least 11 of those earthquakes had a strength of 5 or greater. “We see this tendency to have a reliable force in schools, now in hospitals, and the importance of flexibility in hospitals, and business continuity,” Peres said. “We are seeing hospitals and banks putting solar energy and batteries and adding a generator. They are looking for ways to get different options,” the backup power.

Provide shelter and energy

The Solar Schools project was a major project, beginning with pilot projects at Ramón Quiñones Medina School in Yabucoa, and Leoncio Meléndez School in Las Piedras (Figure 1). Some of the issues considered in selecting schools, according to the Red Cross, are that facilities have the capacity to serve between 80 and 500 people searching for shelter, can support communities most affected by Hurricane Maria, and that schools are located in isolated areas, often You are not the first to lose energy in a disaster.

1 – Equipment in the control room of Escuela Leoncio Meléndez School, a school located in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, includes Blue Planet Energy’s Blue Ion Energy Storage System. The school was one of the first two pilot facilities for the Solar Schools project. Courtesy: Blue Planet Energy

“We trained the workers, and then the Red Cross took over the projects,” Perez said. “They did microgridines in every school, about 50 kilowatts in solar energy [photovoltaic solar]About 25 kilowatts of solar energy in every microogrid, [and] About 100 kWh in storage. These schools were used as a haven, so when the hurricane came, the schools were open, but there was no strength. We have put these little grids to run the cafeteria to cook and run five or six classrooms to operate equipment or medical devices, telephones, etc. “

An additional benefit of the microgrid system is that during normal or non-emergency operation, the systems help each school by reducing energy use and saving costs. If the school suffers from a power outage, the control system dynamically changes from the normal self-consumption mode to the full backup mode.

Companies that use their equipment in microgrids include Schneider Electric, which has provided Conext XW + hybrid inverters and MPPT 80 600 charging controllers and SMA. Companies involved in solar installation business include AZ Group, Alten Energy, Aireko, Green Energy & Fuels, Pura Energia, Dynamic Solar and ISO Group. The combined solar panels, which come from Qcell, Longi Solar and Canadian Solar, have the ability to withstand winds of up to 160 mph.

Project Red Cross support includes at least three years of maintenance support. This effort was made in coordination and cooperation with the Puerto Rico Department of Education, the Public Buildings Authority, and the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Flexibility, known as COR3. The Red Cross is also working with Water Mission, a non-profit partner, to install small solar systems that support community wells in Puerto Rico, so that residents can access clean and safe water during emergencies.

“The main purpose of this project was to create resilience,” Johnson said. “It did much more than that. It created a lot of jobs, brought people back to the island, the people who wanted to participate in renewable energy and brought this kind of technology to the island. It opened the eyes of manufacturers and other players in the market who now see what the island has to offer.” .

“This island has been badly damaged,” said Perez, a Puerto Rican resident for life. “We were in an economic crisis, the government was [economically] It broke out, with Hurricane, Earthquake, and Change in Government, now COVID. This island is flexible, and the main focus is to put this flexibility in power to support our societies. ”■

Darrell Proctor is co-editor of POWER (@ DarrellProctor1, POWERmagazine).

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