A new community-owned solar microgrid in Adjuntas is about more than reliable energy—it's a tool of resilience and decolonization
electrical system in the country, with much of the power system being decades-old and in a state of disrepair. The majority of that power comes from centralized fossil fuel power plants, largely in the southern part of the island, which burn coal and natural gas imported from the U.S. mainland. Massol-Deya sees that all as part of a system of extractive colonialism that has helped keep people in small towns like Adjuntas poor, while transferring wealth to elites in San Juan and the U.S.
But cheap, locally-sourced renewable power, he says, could break that system, with businesses and residents paying lower rates for electricity, while profits are invested in maintenance and local community development, rather than benefiting power companies and fossil fuel producers. “Having the capacity to produce energy with local resources puts Puerto Rico in a better position to address the political future of the island,” Massol-Deya says.
Cynthia Arellano, a program manager at the Honnold Foundation which donated about $2 million to build the Adjuntas solar project, says that money could set off a sea change. “I think we are at the beginning of a wave of microgrid transformation,” she says. “In Puerto Rico, it makes a lot of sense.” Carbó has high hopes as well. “In five years, we will have a completely different society, with more reliable energy and much more resilient in terms of the impacts of future hurricanes,” he says.
Still, some observers are skeptical. More than five years have passed since Hurricane Maria, and still billions of dollars in federal aid have
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