Clean energy journalist Maria Gallucci discusses Puerto Rico's electrical grid contracts and utility-level fossil fuel investments.
Assertion Supported
Gallucci: Very Little of Puerto Rico's Federal Grid Aid Has Been Deployed
“Billions of Federal recovery dollars have been made available and are flowing to the island specifically to fix the grid and to potentially invest in renewable energy, and very little of that money is actually, you know, being distributed on the ground, and so…”
Assertion Supported
PREPA waited months to request mainland utility mutual aid after Maria
“Puerto Rico has that as well, but for whatever reason, for reasons that are unclear, PREPA did not initiate that process until months later.”
Opinion
Gallucci: eVTOLs target taxi replacement rather than airline emissions
“Well, with the eVTOLs that you brought up, those are so interesting because they're kind of not, at least at this stage in their development, they're not going after the emissions from passenger air travel. They're kind of trying to create a new segment of avi…”
Assertion Supported
ICCT: Waste oil and animal fats meet just 2% of SAF needs
“One estimate by the International Council on Clean Transportation is about two percent. About, if we used all of the used cooking oil and animal fats, that could account for about two percent of sustainable aviation fuel.”
Opinion
Gallucci: Puerto Rico's Hurricane Fiona Grid Collapse Was Preventable
“My sense is that, yes, it was preventable, especially because Hurricane Fiona was a Category One hurricane, and Hurricane Maria, when it approached the island, it was Category Five, which is the strongest level of hurricane-force winds, and when it made landfa…”
Assertion Supported
Gallucci: Disaster Funds Are Primarily Rebuilding Puerto Rico's Vulnerable Centralized Grid
“These funds, these efforts, are largely being used to rebuild the existing grid. Sort of this centralized system with far-flung power plants and long transmission and distribution lines that, as we've seen again and again, are vulnerable to extreme weather eve…”