US official warns Puerto Rico of weak power generation as it prepares for a Trump administration
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U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned Friday in Puerto Rico that the U.S. territory needs more power generation as it struggles to recover from a recent massive blackout. It was Granholm’s last official visit to the island as many worry what kind of resources and funding Puerto Rico’s crumbling power grid might receive under President-elect Donald Trump, who chose a fossil fuels executive as his energy secretary.
Granholm noted that 232 outages have hit Puerto Rico since Hurricane Fiona pummeled the island in September 2022 because of insufficient generation. She said that only about half of installed generation capacity is online even as the U.S. Department of Energy has invested millions of dollars in solar projects across the island, generating more than 1,200 megawatts of new renewable capacity.
While Granholm was considered an ally by former Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, the island’s newly sworn in governor, Jenniffer González, snubbed the federal energy secretary and was not present during Friday’s press conference. On Wednesday, González, who backs Trump, said Granholm would be visiting Puerto Rico “for her picture tour, so we are asking her, in black and white, that in addition to her photo tour, that she address the root problems. I am not going to fall for the photo game.”.
González also appointed a so-called energy czar to review contracts of two private power companies that oversee the generation, transmission and distribution of power on the island as she criticized the U.S. government, saying it has not yet released $18 billion slated for the island’s power grid.
