Wood Mackenzie supports the installation of 252 solar panels in energy impoverished areas of Puerto Rico

A team of six professionals from global energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie traveled to energy-impoverished areas of Puerto Rico last month to install solar panels and energy storage systems on homes and a women’s shelter as part of an ongoing charitable project with Let’s Share the Sun Foundation.

This marks 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 and energy storage in poor communities throughout the world. This year, the team installed 252 solar panels that will help power 39 homes and a safe house from domestic violence run by Casa Julia.

Luke Lewandowski, director of Americas power & renewables research, and leader of the initiative said: “Power goes out an average of six times a month in this region, and, when power has been available, costs have been increasing, placing extreme burdens on the residents in this area.”

“Our collaboration with Let’s Share the Sun represents an incredible opportunity to bring an immediate technology solution and general relief to a community otherwise facing continued hardship due to the negative impacts of global climate change. The solar resource is so strong in Puerto Rico that the systems we install, particularly with the battery backup systems, satisfy the power demand of the beneficiaries. The equipment that has been installed will be a significant help for these families not only as a steady source of clean power, but also financially, substantially reducing their energy costs.”

Joining Lewandowski from Wood Mackenzie were Joe Levesque, chief operating officer, Nic de Visser, head of talent development, Sagar Chopra, solar research analyst, Julie Neukamp, operations analyst and Sylvia Leyva Martinez, senior research analyst, North American utility-scale solar.

In 2022, three Wood Mackenzie analysts joined local workers and Let’s Share the Sun volunteers to install 60 solar panels on ten homes in Adjuntas that lacked consistent energy access with limited or no connection to the electricity grid. Combined, these efforts will generate an estimated 189,154 kilowatt hours of clean power per year for the community.

Puerto Rico has committed to meeting its electricity needs with 100% renewable energy by 2050. In February 2022, the government of Puerto Rico and three US 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 Grid resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy’ (PR100), looking at how the US territory can reach 100% renewables by 2050.

Founded in 2010, Let’s Share the Sun has helped install solar power in energy impoverished areas of Haiti, Honduras and Puerto Rico.

 “These solar installation delegation trips have a real personal and economic impact to beneficiaries, delegation participants, and the local solar installation partners; this year Sol de la Montana and ISO Solar,” said Bernadette Jordan, Let’s Share the Sun’s Executive Director.  “We are grateful for the partnership with Wood Mackenzie, and hope we can continue to grow it in Adjuntas again, to other parts of Puerto Rico, and other parts of the world where the need for clean energy access is high amidst extreme poverty.”

Donations to the Let’s Share the Sun and Wood Mackenzie solar installation projects in Puerto Rico can be made here.