Vieques Microgrid Network: Community Resilience for a Remote Island in Puerto Rico

In September 2017, Hurricane Maria knocked out all power across Puerto Rico. Vieques, an island of about 8,000 people located eight miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland, remained without electricity for 18 months, the second-longest blackout in world history. Once power was restored, service remained unreliable and expensive.  

The Vieques Microgrid Network is an effort led by nonprofit Community Through Colors to provide backup power to critical community facilities during grid outages, providing safe and cool spaces to access communications, medical relief, food, shelter, and water. The 15 resilient solar+storage systems currently installed at community facilities across the island have successfully provided uninterrupted power during both daily brownouts and longer power outages. The systems remained online with minimal intervention during and after the widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Fiona in 2022. This impactful effort was supported in part through early-stage technical assistance from Clean Energy Group.