Puerto Rico will soon be getting a 4.5 MW solar PV park, featuring 20,000 solar panels, in the Cerillos area of the city of Ponce. The solar power plant is being developed by Windmar Renewable Energy, a state owned renewable energy development company. Once completed, the solar power plant will be the largest of its kind in Latin America. Completion is scheduled for late 2010.

At full power generating capacity, the solar plant will generate enough clean electricity to supply about 9000 average local homes. An additional benefit of the project is jobs for the local community, at a time when Puerto Rico is experiencing a 17% unemployment rate.

Generated electricity will be sold to the State Power Authority – Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) – or to consumers who choose to be supplied from alternative energy sources.

At this time, 98% of total power consumption in Puerto Rico is supplied from fossil fuels, with oil accounting for about 70% of the total. Renewable energy development has only just begun in this country, which has high hopes for the future, expecting a USD 120 million of federal funding for renewable energy development from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

[source: 7dias]