Energy professionals from Wood Mackenzie traveled to energy-deprived areas in Puerto Rico last month to install solar panels and energy storage systems in homes and a women’s shelter as part of an ongoing charitable project with the Let’s Share the Sun Foundation.
This is the second year in a row that Wood Mackenzie has supported this initiative with Let’s Share the Sun through fundraising and on-the-ground volunteering in the Adjuntas region of Puerto Rico. Let’s Share the Sun is a 501c3 foundation that facilitates the use of solar energy and energy storage in poor communities around the world.
Wood Mackenzie: Installation of 252 solar panels
This year, the team installed 252 solar panels that will help power 39 homes and a shelter for victims of domestic violence, run by Casa Julia. Luke Lewandowski, Director of Renewable Energy Research at Wood Mackenzie and leader of the initiative, said, “Electricity goes out an average of six times a month in this region, and when electricity is available, the costs go up, putting a huge burden on the people of this region. Our collaboration with Let’s Share the Sun represents an incredible opportunity to provide an immediate technological solution and overall relief to a community that would otherwise face continued hardship due to the negative impacts of global climate change. The solar resource is so strong in Puerto Rico that the systems we are installing, especially with the battery storage systems, will meet the energy demand of the beneficiaries. The equipment installed will be a significant help to these families, not only as a constant source of clean energy, but also financially, by significantly reducing their energy costs.”
In addition to Lewandowski, the Wood Mackenzie team included Joe Levesque, chief operating officer; Nic de Visser, talent development manager; Sagar Chopra, solar research analyst; Julie Neukamp, operations analyst; and Sylvia Leyva Martinez, senior research analyst for large-scale solar in North America. In 2022, three Wood Mackenzie analysts joined local workers and Let’s Share the Sun volunteers to install 60 solar panels on ten households in Adjuntas that lacked consistent energy access with limited or no connection to the power grid. Together, these efforts will produce approximately 189,154 kilowatt hours of clean energy per year for the community.
An initiative that is part of a long-term project
In February 2022, the government of Puerto Rico and three U.S. federal agencies-the Departments of Energy, Homeland Security, and Housing and Urban Development-signed a memorandum of understanding to align federal funds with local policies.
In 2023, the group will complete a two-year study, “Puerto Rico’s Power System Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy” (PR100), to examine how the U.S. territory can achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050. Founded in 2010, Let’s Share the Sun has helped install solar energy systems in energy-deprived areas in Haiti, Honduras and Puerto Rico.
