The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing closed a loan on Aug. 5 to support improvements to Puerto Rico’s electric grid, aiming to deliver hundreds of millions in electricity cost savings for residents and businesses.
Gregory A. Beard, Director of the Office of Energy Dominance Financing, said, “President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts Act is driving investments that strengthen America’s energy infrastructure while lowering costs for hardworking families. This investment will strengthen Puerto Rico’s electric grid, lower electricity costs, support American manufacturing, and provide a pathway for the reliable, dispatchable power needed to deliver affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the people of Puerto Rico.”
Puerto Rico has faced chronic outages and prolonged service interruptions affecting families, businesses, and critical infrastructure. After a comprehensive review by the Trump Administration, DOE restructured the financing to focus on lowering energy costs and strengthening American manufacturing while deploying reliable energy infrastructure. The financing will fund 220 megawatts of battery storage systems in Arecibo and Santa Isabel using American-manufactured technology with secure domestic supply chains. These batteries are expected to provide backup power for more than 100,000 customers during shortages and help avoid about 13 million customer interruption hours based on projected 2025 data. The plan also includes developing natural gas-fired generation facilities aimed at improving long-term grid stability.
This effort builds on broader actions taken since 2025 by DOE under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act through emergency orders authorizing critical generation resources needed for reliability. These actions have included supporting vegetation management and transmission maintenance ahead of peak demand periods such as hurricane season.
Other recent federal initiatives include programs supporting clean energy adoption in disadvantaged communities through President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative as well as $225 million allocated under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for implementing resilient building codes according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Technology development efforts are ongoing at national laboratories in support of environmental cleanup missions, according to testimony before Congress while innovative groundwater remediation methods have been deployed at Savannah River Site, according to DOE Office of Environmental Management.
Beard said EDF remains committed “to financing American energy and manufacturing projects that meaningfully contribute to U.S. energy security, grid reliability, and lowering costs for all Americans.”