# Puerto Rico

Territory Profile and Energy Estimates 

# Profile Analysis Print Territory Energy Profile (overview, data, & analysis) Last Updated: December 18, 2013



# Overview
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico consists of the eas ternmost 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 fore sted 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 s easonal 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 a nd decreasing. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and emigration, mainly to the U.S. mainla nd, increased in the recent recession.

Agriculture, mainly sugarcane, dominated Puerto Ric o's economy until the middle of the 20th century. W hile rum is still produced, sugar cane is no longer raised in Puerto Rico, and agricu lture has become a minor part of the economy. Manuf acturing now leads the private sector, with industries including pharmaceuticals a nd medical devices, electronics, aviation, and rene wable energy. Manufacturing has been attracted to Puerto Rico in part by special fe deral and commonwealth tax benefits. Tourism is als o important to the economy, as is government, which employs nearly one in three worke rs. Puerto Rico produces no conventional fuels. Like most Caribbean islands, it relies heavily on imported petroleum to meet its en ergy needs. On average, the islands' residents use much less energy than mainland consumers. Puerto Rico's energy intensity is typica lly 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 prod uce nor refine petroleum, so all petroleum products are imported, shipped in through the ports of San Juan, Humacao, Guayanilla, and Po nce. Residual fuel oil makes up about one-third of imports, and motor gasoline i s about one-fourth. Other petroleum products import ed 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 refiner ies closed between 1992 and 2005. The Yabacoa site is being used as a motor gasoline terminal.

The electric power and transportation sectors are t he largest petroleum consumers. Puerto Rico allows use of conventional motor gasoline. About two-thirds of petroleum-based elect ricity generating capacity consumes No. 6 residual fuel oil, and one-third consumes No. 2 diesel fuel. Despite the commonwealth's overa ll low energy consumption, Puerto Rico's per capitapetroleum consumption is about four-fifths of the U.S. average, primarily because of its dependence on residual fuel oil and diesel f uel for two-thirds of the islands' electricity. 

# Puerto Ricans use less than two-fifths the energy per capita that mainland Americans use. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=RQ

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# Natural gas

Puerto Rico does not produce natural gas. All natur al gas is imported as liquefied natural gas (LNG) through the Peñuelas terminal and regasificat ion facility at Guayanilla Bay. The facility was built to supply the 540-megawatt EcoEléctrica g enerating plant there on the southwestern coast. LNG is imported mainly from Tri nidad 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. aver age. However, LNG imports are increasing, and a second terminal is planned at thePuerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) generating station at Aguirre, on the south eastern 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 opposit ion arose to routing the pipeline through the islan d's rugged central mountains, and the plan was dropped after officials found the term inal could not handle all of PREPA's expected natur al gas needs. PREPA has now contracted for installation of a floating terminal with regasification capability 4 miles offshore fro m Aguirre, which is its largest generating station at 1,500 megawatts. PREPA is assessing whet her natural gas can be transported from the Aguirreterminal to its three north coast generating plants, or if a second terminal on the north coast is possible. PREPA is exploring us ing U.S.-origin LNG if it becomes available.



# Coal Puerto Rico produces no coal. The island has one co al-fired electricity generating plant, at Guayama. The plant uses circulating fluidized-bed combustion and began operation in 200 2. Typically, 1.6 million short tons of coal are im ported annually from Colombia to supply the 454-megawatt plant. Ash from coal combus tion is recycled on site into a partially solidifie d aggregate that is used in asphalt and concrete for road construction and other applic ations.



# Electricity Puerto Rico's electricity is supplied by PREPA, a g overnment agency that owns the electric distribution system for the main island, Vieques, a nd Culabra, as well as all but two generating stations. PREPA (in Spanish, Autoridad d e Energía Eléctrica, or AEE) began in the 1920s as a government irrigation system, but it s responsibilities grew over the years to encompass island electrification. Puerto Rico typic ally gets two-thirds of its electricity from petroleum, generated mainly at six stations with st eam turbines, combustion turbines, and/or combined cycle technology. The balance of PREPA pow er supply is almost evenly divided between natural gas and coal generation, with a sma ll fraction from hydroelectric generators. The natural gas- and coal-fired plants are owned an d operated by two independent power producers who sell their output to PREPA on long-te rm contracts.

High world petroleum prices have driven typical Pue rto Rico power prices to two to three times the U.S. average, and PREPA is planning to ad d 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 oth er conversions depend on construction of LNG importterminals and gas distribution infrastructure. Puerto Rico, the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. federal agencies are exploring t he potential for interconnecting the isolated island grids with each other, and with oth er Caribbean islands, with an eye toward a possible Caribbean-wide grid. A wider grid 

# 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 than twice the U.S.
average. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=RQ

2 of 3 9/15/2014 3:31 PMcould lower costs and enable the use of more renewa ble energy. PREPA gets close to half of its electri city revenues from commercial

sector consumption and just over one-third from res idential consumption. Per capita, Puerto Rico's ele ctricity consumption is about two-fifths of the U.S. average.



# Renewable energy Puerto Rico has enacted a Renewable Energy Portfoli o Standard requiring PREPA to get 12% of its electr icity 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 includ ing municipal solid waste, and ocean and tidal energy generation. Only about 1% of Puerto Rico's electricity has been coming from rene wable energy sources, all from hydroelectricity. Pu erto Rico has 21 hydroelectric generating units, which were built beginning in 191 5 and are sited on reservoirs that often supply dri nking and irrigation water as well as electricity.

To meet the renewable electricity standard, PREPA i s focusing on wind, solar, and wasteto-energy projects. The utility has signed long-ter m power purchase agreements with renewable energy developers for about 1,000 megawatts of renewable capacity, which could supply enough renewably sourced electricity to meetthe 2015 portfolio standard if all the projects are built. The first of those utility-scal e renewable energy projects began to come into operation in 2012. A 24-megawatt solar PV plan t at Guayama, managed by the same company that owns Puerto Rico's coal plant, and a 2 6-megawatt solar PV plant at Loiza initiated operations. A 95-megawatt wind farm at Sa nta Isabel became both Puerto Rico's first operating wind generator and the largest wind facil ity 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 potenti al for large-scale wind projects. But Puerto Rico has taken advantage of the tropical sun and become a leader in distributed solar applicati ons, including solar hot water heaters and PV. The government has used weatherizat ion 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 electri c load by more than 40 megawatts.

No municipal solid waste or other waste-to-energy f acilities 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 wast e-to-energy projects have taken on new urgency since the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board issued an order that will shut most o f 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 energ y from the waves, currents, and ocean depths surrou nding the island.



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# Puerto Rico is focusing on wind,solar, and wasteto-energy projects to fill its renewable portfolio. U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and... http://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.cfm?sid=RQ

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