Bringing Reliable, Renewable Energy to the People

The Puerto Rico Community Energy Resilience Initiative (CERI) focuses on increasing energy resilience for low-to-moderate income communities by installing solar-plus-storage microgrids at critical facilities. Through pilot projects, CERI found that a community-driven approach, combined with flexible financing and technical assistance, is the most effective way to serve needs ignored by the current market. The initiative emphasizes local ownership to bolster local economies and the use of concessionary capital to make systems affordable for facilities with varying credit histories. Technical assistance is highlighted as essential for correct system sizing and procurement, while capacity building ensures long-term maintenance and sustainability.

• The most effective method for achieving energy resilience in underserved communities is a combination of a community-driven process, flexible capital, and technical assistance.
• Local ownership of microgrid systems allows community members to define their own energy goals and supports local jobs and economies, shifting accountability from external programs to the community.
• To make microgrids viable and affordable for facilities with diverse credit histories, CERI is launching a financing vehicle that provides concessionary capital, lower interest rates, shorter loan terms, and a loan loss reserve for financial institutions.
• Technical assistance is critical because facilities have highly varied energy needs, critical load requirements, and physical constraints (such as roof integrity) that affect system sizing and cost.
• CERI is currently implementing four pilot projects at critical facilities—consisting of two local businesses and two nonprofit organizations—with systems averaging 63 kW of solar and 30 kWh of storage.

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} }