The Department of Energy is moving forward with a nearly half-billion-dollar loan agreement, set under the Biden administration, to prop up Puerto Rico’s electrical grid with more battery storage, but is dropping funds meant to build out solar power, as detailed in the original deal.
The $489.4 million loan is part of around $54 billion in loans for clean energy projects finalized under former President Joe Biden that the agency said earlier this year it would revise to support President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda.
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The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing announced on Wednesday that it closed a loan to Amanecer Puerto Rico, a subsidiary of Pattern Energy, with the hopes of lowering electricity costs for the Caribbean island and supporting its grid.
The funds are expected to finance the construction of 220 megawatts of battery energy storage systems in Arecibo and Santa Isabel, providing enough backup electricity for more than 100,000 customers during power shortages.
The administration has estimated that this additional battery storage will help avoid around 13 million customer interruption hours.
The loan comes at a crucial time for Puerto Rico, as the island territory has been riddled with electrical blackouts in recent years. Between 2022 and early 2025 alone, the island saw more than 200 blackouts.
The loan looks very similar to a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee to Amanecer Puerto Rico announced in January 2025.
That loan guarantee, which was also set to be up to $489.4 million, was intended to finance three stand-alone battery energy storage system projects totaling 180 megawatts of power. The funds were also expected to support a 70-megawatt solar project.
The announcement for the loan finalized by the Trump administration notably makes no mention of building out solar in Puerto Rico, but instead says the funds will also support a “pathway for the future development of reliable, dispatchable natural gas-fired generation.”
“This investment will strengthen Puerto Rico’s electric grid, lower electricity costs, support American manufacturing, and provide a pathway for the reliable, dispatchable power needed to deliver affordable, reliable, and secure energy for the people of Puerto Rico,” EDF Director Greg Beard said.
The removal of the solar project provisions from the loan is in line with the administration’s broader effort to boost fossil fuel projects and reduce federal funding for renewable energy alternatives such as solar and wind.
In May of 2025, the Energy Department said it would redirect $365 million in funds initially intended to support the installation of rooftop solar and battery storage starting in 2026. At the time, the agency said it was reprioritizing the funds to plants that burn fossil fuels and to the maintenance of grid infrastructure in Puerto Rico.
The agency went a step further in January, announcing it would cancel between $350 million and $365 million in funding for rooftop solar and battery storage.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has repeatedly rejected calls from utilities and politicians of both parties for the administration to prioritize an “all of the above” energy strategy — meaning utilizing all resources, including natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind, and solar.
ENERGY DEPARTMENT CANCELS MILLIONS OF SOLAR FUNDING FOR PUERTO RICO
Wright has specifically criticized renewable energy sources for their intermittency, claiming they fail to add anything meaningful to the total capacity of the electricity grid and fail to provide enough power during peak demand.
“When I hear politicians say, ‘We just added more electrons on the grid,’ no, we don’t,” Wright said in February.
