Millions Lose Electricity as Hurricanes Hit Puerto Rico, Florida

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By Christian Roselund

Millions of Americans have lost electricity after two hurricanes brought high winds, flooding, and severe damage to Puerto Rico and Florida. And while utilities continue to state that their ability to mitigate such disasters is limited, both research and lived experience are showing that solar and battery systems can deliver backup power during such disasters.

Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico on 18 September as a Category 1 storm. The storm initially knocked out the electricity service across the entire island, but by 29 September electric service had been restored to more than 80% of customers. This hurricane follows five years after Hurricane Maria, which also knocked out electricity to all of Puerto Rico; nine months later thousands still did not have their power restored.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida in the morning of 29 September as a Category 4 storm, causing extensive flooding in several urban areas in Southwest Florida. By the afternoon, 2.5 million customers (roughly 5 million residents) in Florida were without electric service; on Monday 3 October more than a million residents were still without electricity.

Source: Poweroutage.us

Utilities in both Puerto Rico and Florida have expressed that they are limited in what they can do to prevent such widespread outages. The CEO of utility Florida Power and Light (FPL) told customers to prepare for outages for “an extended period of time,” noting that “there is no such thing as a hurricane-proof grid.” More than 33,000 electrical workers have been mobilized to assist with rebuilding infrastructure; however, FPL has stated that entire sections of its grid may have to be rebuilt.

Meanwhile, a new report by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory finds that at the household level, solar and battery storage systems can provide meaningful backup power in the event of such outages. Berkeley Lab notes that if heating and cooling loads are excluded, a small solar PV system and 10 kilowatt-hours of energy storage can fully meet backup power needs over a 3-day period in “virtually all” U.S. counties and any month of the year.

The findings of this study echo the experience of many living in Puerto Rico, where tens of thousands of residents installed solar PV and battery systems to ensure stable electricity supply after Hurricane Maria. Solar companies report that despite some isolated problems, most of these systems are working and supplying power to homes and businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona.

News coverage: More than 2.5M customers in Florida without power; parts of southwest grid must be rebuilt, says FPL (UtilityDive)

News coverage: Puerto Rico loses power across entire island as Hurricane Fiona nears (Axios)

News coverage: Puerto Rico’s solar users are still among ​‘fortunate few’ with power (Canary Media)