The Department of Energy announced Thursday that it would be scrapping solar projects in Puerto Rico intended to install rooftop systems for some 30,000 low-income families as the island deals with a crumbling power grid.
The announcement explained it would be canceling roughly $350 to $365 million in funding intended for residential rooftop solar and battery storage for the U.S. territory as it struggles with chronic power outages.
The DOE said that the Puerto Rican governor’s rapid deployment of renewable energy systems has led to “unacceptable instability and fragility” in an already weak grid, according to an email from the DOE obtained by The Associated Press.
“The Puerto Rico grid cannot afford to run on more distributed solar power,” the email reads. “The rapid, widespread deployment of rooftop solar has created fluctuations in Puerto Rico’s grid, leading to unacceptable instability and fragility.”
An Energy Department spokesperson explained the decision in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“At the expense of Puerto Ricans, the last administration prioritized their Green New Scam agenda over helping Puerto Rico build an affordable, reliable, and secure electrical grid,” they said. “That’s why the Department of Energy is working closely with Governor González-Colón and Puerto Rican energy authorities to stabilize Puerto Rico’s electric grid, restore confidence in its power system, and deliver lasting energy security for its residents.”
“In January 2026, DOE began reallocating up to $350 million from private, distributed solar systems to continue to support additional practical fixes to improve generation,” the spokesperson said. “The Trump administration’s efforts will help more Puerto Ricans and will do so on a faster timeline than the Biden administration’s original plans. It will also be far more effective in delivering affordable, reliable, and secure electricity.”
Supporters of solar have pushed back. Javier Rua Jovet, public policy director of Puerto Rico’s Solar and Energy Storage Association, said roughly 200,000 families rely on solar that generates nearly 1.4 gigawatts of energy a day and helps prevent blackouts by smoothing voltage swings, calling the funding cancellation “a tragedy.”
The funding was part of an approximately $1 billion federal initiative under the Biden administration in 2022 intended to boost energy resilience after Hurricane Maria devastated the island’s electrical infrastructure in 2017.
The Solar Access Program included a $365 million program to install solar and storage at public housing and clinics.
Puerto Rico’s grid is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, with more than 60% of generation coming from petroleum-fired plants and only about 7% from renewables. That reliance makes the grid vulnerable to fuel price swings, supply chain disruptions, and storm damage and has contributed to more than $9 billion in electricity debt. On the other hand, critics of renewable energy argue that reliance on it would make the grid vulnerable to less reliable methods of generating energy.
The Trump administration has shifted some of its previously approved funds to go to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority for “practical fixes” and emergency activities.
Previous actions also included redirecting $365 million to bolster system flexibility, rather than distributed generation, drawing criticism over federal policy tilting toward fossil-heavy solutions.
Meanwhile, utilities and contractors are spending hundreds of millions on substation upgrades and transmission repairs to modernize a grid long described as “very old” and neglected.
Critics of the solar cancellations said the DOE is putting all of its eggs into the “solar is the problem” basket, when the solar programs could have helped low-income families.
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“The people are really upset and angry,” said Dan Whittle, an associate vice president with the Environmental Defense Fund, which was overseeing that project. “They are buying hook, line and sinker that solar is the problem. It could not be more wrong.”
With solar funding yanked, Puerto Rico’s policymakers now face a choice: pursue a centralized fossil-powered approach that might yield short-term reliability gains, or find ways to integrate distributed renewables to create a better system with clean energy goals.
