IPP Genera PR has chosen Tesla to provide the BESS technology for a 430MW/1,720MWh pipeline of projects in Puerto Rico, set to enter commercial operations at the end of 2025.
Genera PR has announced a notice of intent to award a tender to Tesla, a decision which still needs final approval from the Fiscal Oversight Board and the Authority for Public-Private Partnerships, a government body.
The four-hour BESS, set to come online at the end of next year, will help reduce curtailment and provide ancillary services.
Genera PR, part of natural gas firm New Fortress, operates the majority of the power generation capacity in Puerto Rico after a 10-year contract between it and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) started in in 2023. The portfolio mainly comprises around 20 gas and diesel plants throughout the island.
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The contract followed a tumultuous few years for the unincorporated US territory’s electricity system, with PREPA declaring bankruptcy in 2017, followed by two hurricanes which destroyed much of its grid.
The country’s energy regulator, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB), approved the nine BESS projects in November 2023 (Premium access article). Genera has started the permitting process for the preparation of the land at the existing plants where the units will be located, including in Vega Baja, Cambalache, Costa Sur, Palo Seco, Yabucoa and Aguirre.
Iván Báez, VP corporate affairs at Genera PR, said: “This is a fundamental step toward the modernisation of Puerto Rico’s electrical system. The installation of these BESS units will ensure greater stability and responsiveness of the grid, helping us to address both energy demand and unforeseen events in the system. In addition, the integration of this advanced technology will help reduce the need to resort to more expensive and less efficient units, generating significant savings.”
Some US$760 million of federal funds will go towards the BESS projects’ construction, slightly higher than the US$650 million a Genera PR executive suggested publicly in November 2023.
US guarantees US$861 million loan for solar and 1.1GWh BESS rollout in Puerto Rico
In related news, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO) will provide a US$861.3 million loan guarantee for two solar-plus-storage and two standalone BESS projects in Puerto Rico.
The projects, collective called Project Marahu are from Clean Flexible Energy a joint venture (JV) entity between utility and independent power producer (IPP) AES Corporation and oil and gas major TotalEnergies. AES is, together with electronics firm Siemens, controlling shareholder in system integrator Fluence.
They will add 200MW of solar PV and 285MW/1,140MWh of BESS capacity to the Puerto Rico grid.
The LPO announced a conditional commitment to the loan guarantee for the projects in July this year, which it finalised last week (15 October).
BESS is also being deployed at scale in Puerto Rico by other firms including Luma Energy, which took control of the country’s electricity distribution network in 2020 as part of the privatisation that saw Genera PR take control of its generation. Luma’s 360MW BESS rollout was approved by regulators in May.
At the smaller scale, PREPA appointed US-based residential energy solutions provider Sunrun to develop a 17MW energy storage virtual power plant (VPP), in late 2022.
