Any renewable energy installation on the Latin American island of Puerto Rico must include storage, according to a new rule by a state-owned electricity supplier Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE).
Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and the AEE, which is the island’s sole utility provider, have stated for frequency regulating equipment there must be storage equal to 30% of the generating capacity and for ramping services it should be equal to 45%.
The island struggles with intermittent power from renewable sources being connected to the electricity grid— a problem this ruling will address.
The required storage levels of 30 and 45% mean the focus will be on high power options such as flywheels and supercapacitors rather than batteries and electrochemistry solutions.
Renewable energy developers are keen, with 64 already submitting plans that meet the technical requirements. AEE hopes 600MW of generating capacity will be built on the island, this would boost renewable generation on the island from 1% to 6%.
