The municipality of San Juan announced that it will explore new energy alternatives, in order to avoid complete dependence on the Electric Power Authority service and mitigate the crisis caused by Hurricane Maria.

The mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulín Cruz gave instructions in the capital for all the new services, construction and repairs, to be rebuilt using solar power, to acknowledge that climate change is real and the municipality has to evolve to an energy system within that reality.

“There’s a structural problem in the management of the electric power system. The whole power generation comes from the south of Puerto Rico and distributed throughout the island, so we must take advantage of the current situation to be able to generate power from all 4 points of Puerto Rico and divide that network so that it is much more efficient, “Cruz said.

The municipal executive said that the municipality is evaluating to place “micro networks” with solar panels, which will allow it to “be independent of the electric grid”.

Yesterday she announced the installation of a 2,500 KW generator in the Municipal Hospital of San Juan to try to mitigate the impact of the lack of electricity service in that hospital.

“The  grid is weak. Power comes and goes. Every time that happens in a hospital there is a bacterial problem where one has to re-sanitize everything and make sure everything is in order. So this is going to allow us to energize the hospital and have a ‘transfer switch’ for when the light goes out, the generator will automatically start.” she said.

The generator consumes 10,000 gallons of diesel in a period of three or four days, which represents a cost of more than $3,000 for the municipality. It is expected to be powered on Friday. “Since Irma, the energy has been intermittent, which is a clear sign of the grid’s weak status.” she said.