Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People

This case study describes the Puerto Rico Community Energy Resilience Initiative (CERI), a program designed to increase energy resilience in low-to-moderate income communities through the installation of solar-plus-storage microgrids at critical facilities.

• The Puerto Rico Community Energy Resilience Initiative (CERI) aims to provide reliable, renewable energy to critical facilities—including hospitals, fire stations, essential businesses, and non-profits—in low-to-moderate income communities using solar-plus-storage microgrids.
• CERI is implementing four pilot projects at two local businesses and two nonprofit organizations. These systems average approximately 30 kWh of storage and 63 kW of solar power.
• The initiative emphasizes a community-driven approach where local ownership allows facility leaders to determine their own energy goals and critical load requirements based on experience, which shifts accountability to the community.
• To make microgrids affordable and viable for facilities with varying credit histories, CERI is launching a financing vehicle that provides technical assistance and concessionary capital, including grant funding for down payments and loan loss reserves to lower interest rates and loan terms.
• Technical assistance is critical because facilities have diverse energy needs, physical constraints (such as roof integrity), and varying critical load requirements; for example, a supermarket requires 24/7 power while a rehabilitation center may only need power during weekdays.

APA

RMI (2021). Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People. https://rmi.org/resources/bringing-reliable-renewable-energy-to-the-people/

Chicago

RMI. Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People. 2021. https://rmi.org/resources/bringing-reliable-renewable-energy-to-the-people/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People |date=20 September 2021 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/bringing-reliable-renewable-energy-to-the-people/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2021bringing, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2021}, month = sep, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/bringing-reliable-renewable-energy-to-the-people/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }