Puerto Rico: Ongoing Project History

Puerto Rico Program

Started: March 2018

Current Project Managers:
​Ethan Heroux, Allie Stephens

Project Overview:

The Puerto Rico project is centered at Hogar Albergue para Niños Jesús de Nazaret, an orphanage in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. It is a home that offers shelter, food, transportation, education, social and psychological services to eleven children ages 3 to 9 who are victims of abuse. After Hurricane Maria’s devastation in September of 2017, there has been an energy crisis across the island. The orphanage has only recently gotten electricity back and currently pays approximately $1,000 each month for electricity. The goal of this project is to install a photovoltaic solar panel array with the aim to reduce the orphanage’s monthly electricity bill. This project is a recent startup and will continue to grow as assessments of the orphanage’s electricity demand, structure, and solar potential are made. We hope to begin the first phase of solar array implementation and energy education, such as how to use minimal electricity throughout the day, within a year. The initial design aspect of the project will include designing a battery to help store extra power generated by the solar array and to build structures to put some of the panels on that will withstand possible hurricane conditions in the future to keep the orphanage running even through disaster.