Puerto Rico Territory Energy Profile

Puerto Rico Quick Facts

Puerto Rico has few conventional energy resources, and shipped in petroleum products are the dominant energy

source for the island.

In 2012, 65% of Puerto Rico’s electricity came from petroleum, 18% from natural gas, 16% from coal, and 1% from

renewable energy. 

In 2010, Puerto Rico was fifth among U.S. states and territories in installations of solar thermal hot water heaters;

two wind facilities that began operations in 2012, the Santa Isabel and Punta da Lima plants, can supply about 120

megawatts of capacity; and up to 30 billion kilowatthours per year of electricity could potentially be generated by

tapping ocean wave energy.

Puerto Rico offers tax benefits to encourage installation of solar equipment and allows net metering, meaning that

residents can sell power from home solar panels to the grid.

Puerto Rico has adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring 20% of net electricity sales to come from

renewable energy resources by 2035.

Last Updated: March 27, 2014

Data

Last Update: August 21, 2014 | Next Update: September 18, 2014

Economy

Population and Industry Puerto Rico United States Period

Population 3.7 million 311.6 million 2011 

Energy Intensity 4,541 Btu per 2005 U.S.

dollar

7,329 Btu per 2005 U.S.

dollar

2011 

Reserves & Supply

Reserves Puerto Rico United States Period

Crude Oil 0 billion barrels 23 billion barrels 2011 

Natural Gas Reserves 0 billion cu ft 305 billion cu ft 2011 

Recoverable Coal -- 260,551 million short tons 2008 

Production Puerto Rico United States Period

Total Energy * 78 quadrillion Btu 2011 

Crude Oil 0 thousand barrels/day 7,455 thousand barrels/day 2013 

Natural Gas - Marketed 0 billion cu ft 25,319 billion cu ft 2012 

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Economy

Coal 0 thousand short tons 1,016,458 thousand short

tons

2012 

Capacity Puerto Rico United States Period

Crude Oil Refinery Capacity (as of Jan.

1)

0 barrels/calendar day 17,823,659 barrels/calendar

day

2013 

Total Electricity Installed Capacity 6 million kW 1,053 million kW 2011 

Net Electricity Generation Puerto Rico United States Period

Total Net Electricity Generation 20 billion kWh 4,099 billion kWh 2011 

Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Coal Net

Electricity Generation

20 billion kWh 2,775 billion kWh 2012 

Total Electricity Generation from

Renewable Sources

* 427 billion kWh 2010 

 » Hydroelectric * 276 billion kWh 2012 

 » Other Renewables 0 billion kWh 167 billion kWh 2010 

Production Facilities Puerto Rico

Major Coal Mines None

Petroleum Refineries Shell Chem Yabucoa Inc (Yabucoa) 

Major Non-Nuclear Electricity

Generating Plants

Aguirre (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) ; Arecibo (Puerto

Rico Electric Power Authority) ; Caonillas 1 (Puerto Rico

Electric Power Authority) ; Central Palo Seco (Puerto Rico

Electric Power Authority) ; Costa Sur (Puerto Rico Electric

Power Authority) ; Dos Bocas (Puerto Rico Electric Power

Authority) ; EcoElectrica (EcoElectrica) ; Garzas 1 (Puerto Rico

Electric Power Authority) ; Garzas 2 (Puerto Rico Electric Power

Authority) ; Guayama (AES Puerto Rico) ; Rio Blanco (Puerto

Rico Electric Power Authority) ; San Juan Plant (Puerto Rico

Electric Power Authority) ; Toro Negro 1 (Puerto Rico Electric

Power Authority) ; Yauco 1 (Puerto Rico Electric Power

Authority) ; Yauco 2 (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority)

Nuclear Power Plants None

Imports & Exports

Total Imports Puerto Rico United States Period

Crude Oil Imports 0 thousand barrels/day 9,213 thousand barrels/day 2010 

Total Petroleum Product Imports 176 thousand barrels/day 2,580 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Motor Gasoline Imports 48 thousand barrels/day 134 thousand barrels/day 2010

 » Jet Fuel Imports 10 thousand barrels/day 98 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Kerosene Imports 1 thousand barrels/day 2 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Distillate Fuel Imports 28 thousand barrels/day 228 thousand barrels/day 2010

 » Residual Fuel Imports 60 thousand barrels/day 366 thousand barrels/day 2010

 » Liquefied Petroleum Gas Imports 4 thousand barrels/day 179 thousand barrels/day 2010 

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Economy

 » Other Petroleum Products Imports 26 thousand barrels/day 1,572 thousand barrels/day 2010 

Natural Gas Imports 48 billion cu ft 3,138 billion cu ft 2012 

Coal Imports 1,653 thousand short tons 10,294 thousand short tons 2012 

Total Exports Puerto Rico United States Period

Crude Oil Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 42 thousand barrels/day 2010 

Total Petroleum Product Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 2,311 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Motor Gasoline Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 296 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Jet Fuel Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 84 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Kerosene Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 1 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Distillate Fuel Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 656 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Residual Fuel Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 405 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Liquefied Petroleum Gas Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 164 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Other Petroleum Products Exports 0 thousand barrels/day 705 thousand barrels/day 2010 

Natural Gas Exports 0 billion cu ft 1,619 billion cu ft 2012 

Coal Exports 0 thousand short tons 126,720 thousand short

tons

2012 

Distribution & Marketing

Distribution Centers Puerto Rico

Oil Seaports/Oil Import Sites Guayanilla ; Humacao ; San Juan 

Natural Gas Market Centers None

Major Pipelines None

Consumption

per Capita Puerto Rico United States Period

Total Energy 105 million Btu/person 313 million Btu/person 2011 

by Source Puerto Rico United States Period

Total Energy * 97 quadrillion Btu 2011 

Total Petroleum Products 176.0 thousand

barrels/day

19,180.1 thousand

barrels/day

2010 

 » Motor Gasoline 48.0 thousand barrels/day 8,992.7 thousand

barrels/day

2010 

 » Distillate Fuel 28.0 thousand barrels/day 3,800.3 thousand

barrels/day

2010 

 » Liquefied Petroleum Gases 3.5 thousand barrels/day 2,265.3 thousand

barrels/day

2010 

 » Jet Fuel 10.0 thousand barrels/day 1,431.6 thousand

barrels/day

2010 

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Economy

 » Kerosene 1 thousand barrels/day 20 thousand barrels/day 2010 

 » Residual Fuel 60 thousand barrels/day 535 thousand barrels/day 2010

 » Other Petroleum Products 26 Thousand Barrels/Day 2,135 Thousand

Barrels/Day

2010 

Natural Gas 48 Billion cu ft 25,533 Billion cu ft 2012 

Coal 1,653 Thousand Short

Tons

889,185 Thousand Short

Tons

2012 

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

by Source Puerto Rico United States Period

Total Fossil Fuels 29 million metric tons 5,491 million metric tons 2011

Petroleum 24 million metric tons 2,299 million metric tons 2011

Natural Gas 1 million metric tons 1,318 million metric tons 2011 

Coal 4 million metric tons 1,874 million metric tons 2011 

Analysis

Last Updated: December 18, 2013

Overview

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico consists of the easternmost islands of the

Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea, southeast of Florida. The commonwealth's

main island, Puerto Rico, has coastal plains, sandy beaches, and a forested and

mountainous interior, with the highest peak exceeding 4,000 feet. Rivers coursing

through the mountains offer hydropower potential. The tropical marine climate has

little seasonal variation; temperatures average about 80 degrees Fahrenheit all

year. The hurricane season runs from June to November. The population is

concentrated on Puerto Rico, with smaller populations on Vieques and Culebra.

There are smaller but uninhabited islands scattered around the main island. The

islands' population has been just under 4 million and decreasing. Puerto Ricans are

U.S. citizens, and emigration, mainly to the U.S. mainland, increased in the recent

recession.

Agriculture, mainly sugarcane, dominated Puerto Rico's economy until the middle of the 20th century. While rum is still

produced, sugar cane is no longer raised in Puerto Rico, and agriculture has become a minor part of the economy.

Manufacturing now leads the private sector, with industries including pharmaceuticals and medical devices, electronics,

aviation, and renewable energy. Manufacturing has been attracted to Puerto Rico in part by special federal and

commonwealth tax benefits. Tourism is also important to the economy, as is government, which employs nearly one in

three workers. Puerto Rico produces no conventional fuels. Like most Caribbean islands, it relies heavily on imported

petroleum to meet its energy needs. On average, the islands' residents use much less energy than mainland consumers.

Puerto Rico's energy intensity is typically just over two-thirds of U.S. energy intensity, and the territory's energy

consumption per capita is less than two-fifths of U.S. consumption.

Petroleum

More than four-fifths of the energy used in Puerto Rico comes from petroleum. The islands neither produce nor refine

petroleum, so all petroleum products are imported, shipped in through the ports of San Juan, Humacao, Guayanilla, and

Puerto Ricans

use less than

two-fifths the

energy per

capita that

mainland

Americans use.

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Ponce. Residual fuel oil makes up about one-third of imports, and motor gasoline is about one-fourth. Other petroleum

products imported include jet fuel, distillate fuels, and small amounts of liquefied petroleum fuels and kerosene. The last of

Puerto Rico's five petroleum refineries, located at Yabucoa, was shut in 2009, joining four other island refineries closed

between 1992 and 2005. The Yabacoa site is being used as a motor gasoline terminal.

The electric power and transportation sectors are the largest petroleum consumers. Puerto Rico allows use of

conventional motor gasoline. About two-thirds of petroleum-based electricity generating capacity consumes No. 6 residual

fuel oil, and one-third consumes No. 2 diesel fuel. Despite the commonwealth's overall low energy consumption, Puerto

Rico's per capita petroleum consumption is about four-fifths of the U.S. average, primarily because of its dependence on

residual fuel oil and diesel fuel for two-thirds of the islands' electricity.

Natural gas

Puerto Rico does not produce natural gas. All natural gas is imported as liquefied

natural gas (LNG) through the Peñuelas terminal and regasification facility at

Guayanilla Bay. The facility was built to supply the 540-megawatt EcoEléctrica

generating plant there on the southwestern coast. LNG is imported mainly from

Trinidad and Tobago. Natural gas is consumed only in electricity production, and

Puerto Rico's per capita natural gas consumption is less than one-tenth of the U.S.

average. However, LNG imports are increasing, and a second terminal is planned

at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) generating station at Aguirre,

on the southeastern coast. The LNG imports will support PREPA plans to convert

oil-fired generating stations to dual-fuel capability with natural gas, in order to lower

fuel costs and meet federal emissions standards. The first conversion, the Costa

Sur (South Coast) station in Guayanilla, is being supplied with natural gas from the

Peñuelas terminal.

PREPA plans originally called for a pipeline to take natural gas from that terminal to the north coast, where three PREPA

petroleum-fired generating stations are located. But public opposition arose to routing the pipeline through the island's

rugged central mountains, and the plan was dropped after officials found the terminal could not handle all of PREPA's

expected natural gas needs. PREPA has now contracted for installation of a floating terminal with regasification capability 4

miles offshore from Aguirre, which is its largest generating station at 1,500 megawatts. PREPA is assessing whether

natural gas can be transported from the Aguirre terminal to its three north coast generating plants, or if a second terminal

on the north coast is possible. PREPA is exploring using U.S.-origin LNG if it becomes available.

Coal

Puerto Rico produces no coal. The island has one coal-fired electricity generating plant, at Guayama. The plant uses

circulating fluidized-bed combustion and began operation in 2002. Typically, 1.6 million short tons of coal are imported

annually from Colombia to supply the 454-megawatt plant. Ash from coal combustion is recycled on site into a partially

solidified aggregate that is used in asphalt and concrete for road construction and other applications.

Electricity

Puerto Rico's electricity is supplied by PREPA, a government agency that owns the

electric distribution system for the main island, Vieques, and Culabra, as well as all

but two generating stations. PREPA (in Spanish, Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, or

AEE) began in the 1920s as a government irrigation system, but its responsibilities

grew over the years to encompass island electrification. Puerto Rico typically gets

two-thirds of its electricity from petroleum, generated mainly at six stations with

steam turbines, combustion turbines, and/or combined cycle technology. The

balance of PREPA power supply is almost evenly divided between natural gas and

coal generation, with a small fraction from hydroelectric generators. The natural

gas- and coal-fired plants are owned and operated by two independent power

Puerto Rico is

increasing LNG

imports to

displace

petroleum in

electricity

generation.

The cost of

imported

petroleum has

driven Puerto

Rico electricity

prices to more

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producers who sell their output to PREPA on long-term contracts.

High world petroleum prices have driven typical Puerto Rico power prices to two to

three times the U.S. average, and PREPA is planning to add natural gas capability

at its five largest petroleum-burning plants. The first natural gas conversion, at the

Costa Sur (South Coast) station in Guayanilla, is operating, but other conversions depend on construction of LNG import

terminals and gas distribution infrastructure. Puerto Rico, the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. federal agencies are

exploring the potential for interconnecting the isolated island grids with each other, and with other Caribbean islands, with

an eye toward a possible Caribbean-wide grid. A wider grid could lower costs and enable the use of more renewable

energy. PREPA gets close to half of its electricity revenues from commercial sector consumption and just over one-third

from residential consumption. Per capita, Puerto Rico's electricity consumption is about two-fifths of the U.S. average.

Renewable energy

Puerto Rico has enacted a Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard requiring PREPA to get 12% of its electricity from

renewable sources starting in 2015, scaling up to 15% by 2020 and 20% by 2035. Technologies meeting the standard

include hydroelectric, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, geothermal, biomass including municipal solid waste, and ocean and

tidal energy generation. Only about 1% of Puerto Rico's electricity has been coming from renewable energy sources, all

from hydroelectricity. Puerto Rico has 21 hydroelectric generating units, which were built beginning in 1915 and are sited

on reservoirs that often supply drinking and irrigation water as well as electricity.

To meet the renewable electricity standard, PREPA is focusing on wind, solar, and

waste-to-energy projects. The utility has signed long-term power purchase

agreements with renewable energy developers for about 1,000 megawatts of

renewable capacity, which could supply enough renewably sourced electricity to

meet the 2015 portfolio standard if all the projects are built. The first of those

utility-scale renewable energy projects began to come into operation in 2012. A

24-megawatt solar PV plant at Guayama, managed by the same company that

owns Puerto Rico's coal plant, and a 26-megawatt solar PV plant at Loiza initiated

operations. A 95-megawatt wind farm at Santa Isabel became both Puerto Rico's

first operating wind generator and the largest wind facility in the Caribbean. A

23-megawatt wind project at Punta de Lima, Naguabo, also started up in 2012.

More than 400 megawatts of solar PV and 250 megawatts of wind are in

development. Studies so far show Puerto Rico has limited potential for large-scale wind projects. But Puerto Rico has

taken advantage of the tropical sun and become a leader in distributed solar applications, including solar hot water heaters

and PV. The government has used weatherization assistance programs to install more than 11,000 solar hot water heaters.

Those appliances, along with tax benefits to small-scale PV electricity projects, have reduced electric load by more than 40

megawatts.

No municipal solid waste or other waste-to-energy facilities have yet been built, but PREPA has signed more than a dozen

power purchase agreements with developers. Many of those facilities have run into local opposition, but waste-to-energy

projects have taken on new urgency since the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board issued an order that will shut most

of the island's landfills by 2014. For the longer term, Puerto Rico has been exploring the use of biofuels, primarily those

derived from agricultural wastes, and is investigating technologies that could harvest energy from the waves, currents, and

ocean depths surrounding the island.

Other Resources

Energy-Related Regions and Organizations

Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD): 6

than twice the

U.S. average.

Puerto Rico is

focusing on

wind, solar, and

waste-to-energy

projects to fill its

renewable

portfolio.

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Other Websites

Public Service Commission, Comision de Servicio Publico

Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Departmento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales

Puerto Rico Energy Affairs Administration, Administracion de Asuntos Energeticos

Weatherization Assistance Program, Energy Affairs Administration, Administracion de Asuntos Energeticos

Family Socioeconomic Development Administration, Administracion de Desarrollo Socioeconomico de la Familia

Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority

Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicle Data Center - Federal and State Incentives and Laws

DSIRE - Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency

National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC)

National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO)

National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)-Issues and Research - News Highlights: Issues and Research -

Energy

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)-Dynamic Maps, Geographic Information System (GIS) Data and

Analysis Tools - Maps

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Maps, Imagery, and Publications - Maps

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Fondo de Energi-a Verde (Green Energy Fund)

United States Department of Health and Human Services - Administration for Children and Families - Low Income

Home Energy Assistance Program

Email suggestions for additional Puerto Rico website resources to: states@eia.gov.

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