"US To Modernize, Speed Up Work On Puerto Rico Power Grid"

"SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Three federal agencies promised Wednesday to help modernize Puerto Rico’s outage-plagued power grid and speed up efforts to strengthen it more than four years after Hurricane Maria razed it.

More than $12 billion in federal recovery funds are available, and a portion of that will help finance dozens of grid modernization projects scheduled to start this year, said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which signed the agreement with Puerto Rico’s government along with the U.S. departments of Homeland Security and Energy.

In addition, more than $1.9 billion will be used to improve the island’s power system, including the creation of small and large microgrids with the aim to help lower income households.

Officials said more than 130 projects soon will be in the bidding phase or under construction, including repairs to substations across Puerto Rico, the replacement of thousands of street lights and the creation of an early warning system for dams."

Dánica Coto reports for the Associated Press February 2, 2022.

Source: AP, 02/03/2022