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Community Solar Microgrid for Emergency Response and Communications

Solution Overview

Following Hurricane María in 2017, Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico coordinated a diaspora-driven emergency response that distributed solar-powered lamps across multiple municipalities and maintained critical radio communications between the island and mainland United States.[3][5] This community-based initiative leveraged Casa Pueblo's existing solar infrastructure, which had operated independently since going off-grid months before the hurricane, to provide emergency power, communications, and humanitarian aid distribution across Puerto Rico's central highlands.[2][1] The approach demonstrated how decentralized renewable energy systems combined with community networks could maintain essential services during prolonged grid failures.

Technical Components

Casa Pueblo's community center operated on solar power infrastructure that included 42 solar panels of 260 watts each, producing approximately 16,000 annual kWh, combined with a Deka Unigy II 48AVR95-93 battery system.[12] The organization's Radio Casa Pueblo station broadcast on 1020AM in the central zone and via internet, operating entirely on renewable energy through a project implemented in collaboration with Maximo Solar Industries.[12] Casa Pueblo worked with locally owned solar company Sol de la Montaña to install small alternating-current (AC) solar energy systems on families' roofs as part of the Cucubano project.[10] In May 2024, workers from Sol de la Montaña installed 12 solar panels (320 watts each) on one family's home roof in Adjuntas, along with inverters and two batteries.[10] The organization pioneered solar-powered streetlights (Postirriquenos) and solar refrigerators crucial for preserving perishable medicines like insulin and foods in the warm climate.[4] Casa Pueblo also provided satellite phone service access for thousands of Puerto Ricans left without cell phone service.[9]

Implementation Details

Casa Pueblo installed its first solar panels in 1999 and went off the electric grid entirely just months before Hurricane María struck in September 2017.[2] The organization was founded in the 1980s in opposition to government mining operations and developed into a cultural center advocating for protection of resources and community self-management.[11][10] After María made landfall on September 20, 2017 with winds exceeding 155 miles per hour, members of Puerto Rico's diaspora contacted Casa Pueblo to ask how they could help.[2][13] Casa Pueblo told diaspora members to send solar lamps instead of money, and over the next six months, the organization distributed 14,000 lamps via postal service to Adjuntas, Utuado, Lares, Peñuelas, and Ponce.[2][3] Casa Pueblo received $15,000 in October 2017 focused on procurement and distribution of solar-powered lights to replace the devastated power grid in the central part of the island.[6] The organization received an additional $50,000 in July 2018 to install solar powered electrical systems for families whose medical needs depended on constant power in the rural highlands of central Puerto Rico.[6] The Radio Casa Pueblo solar project cost nearly $73,000.[12] Casa Pueblo made collaborative arrangements with North American institutions in cultural centers of New Jersey, Chicago, and many places through the Puerto Rican diaspora.[9] Organizations from the mainland U.S. that collaborated with Casa Pueblo's post-María efforts included the Sierra Club, Grassroots Boston, JPB Foundation, and David Galarza NY Foundation.[9] Solar panels installed by Casa Pueblo were paid for by foundation donations and proceeds from locally grown coffee sold by the organization.[11] Rebecca Rodríguez Banch served as community liaison for Casa Pueblo, managing the Cucubano project and selecting project participants based on need without asking anything from the families.[10] In the six years following Hurricane María, Casa Pueblo helped fund and install more than 350 solar energy systems on buildings across Adjuntas, including in an assisted living facility, a grocery store, the local fire station, and many homes in the poorest neighborhoods.[2]

Benefits and Impacts

After Hurricane María, Casa Pueblo distributed 14,000 solar lamps, lighting 70 percent of the houses and businesses in Adjuntas.[9] The organization also distributed solar lamps in Utuado, Jayuya, Humacao, Loíza, Vieques, and Salinas, along with 200 roof tarps and around 1,500 water filters for those without potable water.[9] During the outages following María, Adjuntas residents gathered at Casa Pueblo where they were able to charge phones, run dialysis machines, and store medications in the center's refrigerators, with one neighbor coming daily to administer her son's asthma treatment.[2] In the region of Adjuntas where Casa Pueblo had invested in systems to provide solar-powered capacity to homes and businesses, hundreds of people managed better during months without access to electricity through the island's power grid.[4] Casa Pueblo's home base became an oasis for people in the southern and central regions of the island to charge their phones and communicate with loved ones outside the island.[7] Radio Casa Pueblo played a significant role in informing inhabitants of the island's central region during Hurricane María, serving as a vital source of news and information when communication was nearly impossible for millions on the island.[12][4] People in or from Adjuntas could email voice messages to Casa Pueblo to be delivered to family members.[1] In the central highland region of Adjuntas, the store Colmado Cielomar had just had a solar panel installed by Casa Pueblo, and throughout the blackout, the proprietor managed to offer roasted chicken and perishable goods, as well as refrigeration and a lighted place to gather.[4] When Hurricane Fiona hit in 2022, the local fire station in Adjuntas with solar power became a regional response center, intercepting calls from a station in Ponce, 15 miles to the south, which had lost power.[2]

Climate Adaptation Relevance

Hurricane María struck Puerto Rico as a category 4 storm in 2017, ultimately killing over 4,000 people in the 90 days after the storm made landfall, with most deaths occurring not from wind and rain but from months without power, clean water, and a functioning health system.[10][13] After María, communications collapsed for several reasons including destroyed antennas, impassable access roads, and lack of fuel for power generators.[12] Casa Pueblo's solar-powered infrastructure and diaspora coordination network demonstrated how decentralized renewable energy systems could maintain critical services during catastrophic grid failures caused by extreme weather events.

Business Analysis

Puerto Rico's power grid remained fragile and underinvested, with its operation privatized in 2021 as a supposed solution to grid problems and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's $9 billion public debt.[10] Puerto Rican power customers paid about twice as much as U.S. customers and saw seven electric rate increases in the year prior to 2024.[10] Casa Pueblo's financing model combined foundation donations, proceeds from locally grown coffee sales, and targeted grants to fund solar installations without requiring payment from recipient families.[11][6] The organization partnered with Oxfam after the hurricane, with Oxfam supporting Casa Pueblo's leadership toward energy self-sufficiency and ecological preservation.[4] Casa Pueblo's community-based approach emphasized autogestion (self-governance), providing energy security regardless of families' circumstances or ability to pay.[10] The model demonstrated how community organizations could leverage diaspora networks, foundation support, and local revenue streams to build climate resilience infrastructure independent of centralized utility systems.

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