I’m very proud that my area on the South Coast of Puerto Rico – Guayama, Salinas and Santa Isabel – has started to answer this haunting call from Edison. Working together, with determined political leadership, we have become a pioneer of renewable energy production in the Caribbean.
¡Pa'lante!
Guayama, Puerto Rico
Opening on October 8, 2012, a 138 acre Solar Farm began operation in Guayama, PR - the first large-scale Green Energy project on the island, and the largest in the Caribbean. This facility is now supplying enough power to operate 6,500 homes annually. And joining the Guayama project are those in Salinas (my current home town), Morovis (my mother’s, grandparent’s, ancestor’s small home town), Santa Isabel, Arecibo, Guayanilla, and Naguabo … and it's only the beginning!
So far Green Energy and associated investments have totalled $1.3 billion dollars, and the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act played a significant part in kickstarting this Revolution.
Thank you!
More Guayama pics
The project which benefited from federal stimulus money during its construction phase created 200 jobs.
Fortuño emphasized that with the Guayama project Puerto Rico placed itself on the front rank of renewable energy generation in the Caribbean.
Plant director Neil Watlington said he felt happy to be a part of the first large-scale solar energy project in Puerto Rico and that the initiative opens the door to a more sustainable energy future.
And this:
Puerto Rico is Relying More on Alternative Energy Sources
Despite having a rocky reception in some other locations, green energy seems to be favored in Puerto Rico. It comes in response to energy costs being almost twice as much there than in the U.S. mainland. This is hurting economic development, making it expensive for businesses to locate or remain on the island.
In July 2010, the then-governor, Luis Fortuño, enacted a new law for energy diversification through sustainable and alternative renewable energy and a Green Energy Incentives Act. These set goals for renewable energy, and implemented economic incentives in connection with these endeavors.
Solar and wind power were promoted, and the production of renewable energy is expected to be 12 percent by 2015, 15 percent by 2020 and 20 percent by 2035, according to the new laws…
The new governor, Alejandro García Padilla, also supports alternative energy production. He wants to install solar water heaters on at least half of the island's homes, and install solar panels on government buildings. “We all agree that the current energy situation is unsustainable,” the new governor said recently in aspeech to the Manufacturers Association of Puerto Rico. “It is not good for the country in general, it is not good for the industrial climate, it is a deterrent to attracting investment.”
Padilla also wants to see more use of liquefied natural gas.
The new administration under the leadership of Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, a staunch Green advocate, is determined to go even further, specifically the efforts and incentives encouraging rooftop solar panels across the island. Ambitious and exactly the what's needed, IMO, if we're to have even a shot at putting the brakes on rampant Climate Change, and halting the destruction of our environment.
We’re already suffering under some of the highest Energy Costs in the United States, paying to pollute the Earth in the process. Enough is enough.
High world petroleum prices have driven typical Puerto Rico power prices to two to three times the U.S. average...
So there's good news!
Only a few miles away from the Guayama Solar Farm is a new Green project in my own neighborhood of Aguirre, Salinas, PR. A new Solar Farm nearing the final stages of construction. And not at all like beloved Sara and her Raving Russian Observations, I really can see this beauty from my window :O)
Aguirre, Salinas
Santa Isabel
Just a couple of miles up the coast is another Climate Change Champion, our Wind Farm in Santa Isabel, PR. I love the short drive up the coast and seeing these towering giants, perhaps not as efficient they can be, still, but getting there. I’ve no doubt they’ll eventually be at as close to 100% as possible – our technology will advance, as it always does, and these magnificent sentinels aren’t going anywhere.
Researchers from the University of Puerto Rico will join an international team studying how to improve wind farm design.
The effort will be headed by Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University, which said Tuesday that the National Science Foundation has awarded $6 million in grants to help fund the work.
The researchers will study how to match the varying output of wind farms with power grids that provide a constant flow of electricity to customers. Johns Hopkins says they will study not only how wind and weather affect electricity output, but the impact of individual turbines on other turbines near them.
Unfortunately, there are still some very powerful people, including local politicians and business “leaders”, who stridently oppose this, and all the other newly constructed / under construction Green Energy projects.
Naguabo
Guayanilla
Morovis
Puerto Rico Convention Center Parking, San Juan
Pics!
But ... GHA...
When it comes to renewable energy, for instance, Puerto Rico shouldn't waste one more dime on the construction of wind turbines. All it takes is a visit to wind farms in Santa Isabel on the island's south coast and Naguabo in southeastern Puerto Rico, to see the ugliness of these monster wind turbines as a technology unfit for the island.
The two wind farms located in Puerto Rico's coastal areas have a very nice breeze, but hardly the consistent wind that can generate power worth building these environmentally threatening monstrosities. Can you imagine hundreds of these ugly monsters around our small, beautiful island? The few already installed in the metropolitan area should be taken down. It was a stupid decision to put those up.
The answer to that voice in your ear is, well,
yes … we really do have a few Donald Trump fans here. Bless their hearts.
Regardless of their wailing and moaning, the tide has turned here in PR, and there really is no going back. Our former Governor Luis Fortuño – though completely and utterly wrong in his endorsement of Mitt Romney (ya think? IMO, of course :) our Gov made great strides in securing a Greener Puerto Rico in the present, and for future generations – against so much pushback from within his own PNP (Statehood) Party.
Now we work to strengthen the Laws, never losing sight that it’s the People, and not the Politicians, that control our own future. I pray these aren’t idle words, and the tide has indeed turned towards an effectiveness in civic activism, and #TakingItToTheStreets. Prayers and support, if you are so inclined, to the arrested at #FloodWallstreet, especially FrostPaws the Polar Bear.
LEGAL FUND HERE!
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Thank you for taking the time to read, and many thanks to Patriot Daily who suggested that I participate in the Blogathon. I hope we’ll all come to remember this moment in time as a beautiful new day when the world stood together to change the course of history. Well done!
I’ll end with today’s sunrise here in Ranchos de Guayama, beautiful new beginnings.
Hope everyone has a great, greener day.