Community Energy Projects in the Caribbean: Advancing Socio-Economic Development and Energy Transitions

O’Neill-Carrillo, Efraín; Mercado, Emmanuel; Luhring, Oscar; Jordan, Isaac; Irizarry-Rivera, A.A.

doi:10.1109/mts.2019.2930269

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Natural disasters, such as hurricane María in 2017 and earthquakes in early 2020 showed the frailty of the local power system and the need to re-think the electric infrastructure [24]. On the other hand, since the 1990s diverse stakeholders called for an increased use of renewable energy and more recently, distributed energy resources [3]. However, even with the dire financial and infrastructure conditions, the utility did not seek assistance in re-designing the grid and insisted on the centralized design that was proven ineffective by hurricane María and the 2020 earthquakes.…”

Section: The Electric Infrastructure In Puerto Ricomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In many instances, it is not enough to inform policy makers about technological options, engineers should get involved in agenda setting and policy analysis to ensure a broader impact on society [1]. The key role of this paradigmatic shift and the importance of collaborations among engineers and social scientists are shown on locations that have aggressive renewable energy goals that require a strong social agreement to achieve them [2,3]. For example, renewable energy and in particular distributed energy resources (DER), present both sustainability and resilience benefits to tropical and subtropical regions in the world that are vulnerable to natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although utility planning divisions take a similar approach, the social data are usually obtained from a government or entity outside the utility, with little or no interactions between utility personnel and social planners. The method followed on this paper allows for interdisciplinary teams to work in the development of a model as part of broader design goals for a renewable-dominant energy system [3]. Social data were used as input to create a power system model, resulting in a more realistic and useful tool.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Power System Modeling for the Study of High Penetration of Distributed Photovoltaic Energy

Cuello-Polo

O’Neill-Carrillo

2021

Designs

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Many conventional power systems are evolving due to the growth of renewable energy and distributed energy resources (DERs). Modeling the interplay of transmission and distribution systems is critical to analyze how DERs impact a system’s conventional operation and which electric infrastructure improvements are needed to achieve a balance between centralized generation and DERs. This article describes the process, tools, and resources used to model electric power systems with a centralized infrastructure in an isolated context and limited access to actual utility data. Photovoltaic systems installed on residential rooftops were the main design option. This work broadened the typical power system modeling to include planning and social considerations. This integrative engineering-social method allows for interdisciplinary teams to work in the development of a model as part of broader design goals for a renewable-dominant energy system. The Puerto Rico electric power system was used as a case study to demonstrate the process. The integrative engineering-social perspective in developing the model and the actions to manage data limitations are aspects that could be followed in other locations with aggressive renewable energy goals and where utility data are not readily available.

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Section: The Electric Infrastructure In Puerto Ricomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Power System Modeling for the Study of High Penetration of Distributed Photovoltaic Energy

Cuello-Polo

O’Neill-Carrillo

2021

Designs

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“…Energy justice scholars and practitioners in the United States and Puerto Rico have done well to trouble dominant energy studies that neglect or oversimplify difference and inequities, which too often separate technological transformations from culture and power. These researchers explain that conceptualizing energy transitions as only about technology challenges seriously overlooks the many power inequities shaping these controversies and possibilities (Castro-Sitiriche, 2019;Fortier et al, 2019;O'Neill-Carrillo et al, 2017;O'Neill-Carrillo et al, 2019). Energy studies must account adequately for how privilege and precarity impact the lived experiences of individuals, families, and communities struggling for sustainable jobs, clean air and water, and the protection of places and people about which they care (Teron and Ekoh, 2018).…”

Section: En/countering Colonial Toxicity In the Jobos Bay Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5 "Energy actors" comes from a 2014 interview I conducted with engineering professor Efraín O'Neill-Carrillo in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. He and several energy studies colleagues employ this concept to highlight the agency and potential power of everyday local individuals and groups (O'Neill-Carrillo et al, 2019;. advance local self-determination and community-designed and -directed projects and experiences that cultivate habitable spaces for life-giving and -sustaining relations amid compounding crises (Atiles Osoria, 2014;Onís, 2018a;Onís, 2018b;Lloréns and Santiago, 2018b;Lloréns and Stanchich, 2019;Garriga-López, 2020;Soto Vega, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí”: Translating Collective Struggles for Environmental and Energy Justice in Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay Communities

Onís

2021

Front. Commun.

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Rural, coastal communities in the Jobos Bay region of southeastern Puerto Rico confront disproportionate harms as an energy sacrifice zone. This space is constituted by imported fossil fuel dependency, economic and climate injustices, environmental racism, ecocide, US colonialism and imperialism, neoliberalism, and racial capitalism. In response, many grassroots actors mobilize against the toxic assault on their communities to push for alternatives beyond the suffocating status quo via apoyo mutuo [mutual support]. This survival work and movement building occur literally in “the outdoors” and in other intertwined multispecies environments, challenging narrow, oppressive colonial, and consumerist constructs that reduce “the outdoors” to recreation and thus erase the numerous ways that people labor in, honor, and defend places and spaces to lead good lives. Thus, critical examinations of communication and race/racism/racialization in and about this colonial US territory must grapple with the brutalities and pain caused by systemic and structural cruelties and translate how, where, and with whom self-determined and potentially liberatory environmental and energy justice advocacy takes shape to refuse a trauma-only narrative. Studying these embodied and emplaced efforts positions energy and power broadly construed, including in the form of collective action. This article centers on the collaborative energies of local grassroots actors and scholars who ideologically and politically align and who value working together toward anti-colonial praxis. To provide one example of how these collaborations can yield public-facing projects that contribute to struggles tied to the survival and well-being of the most impacted communities, this essay focuses on the creation of an environmental justice children’s book. This bilingual text documents and translates the pollution caused by a US-owned, coal-fired power plant and mobilizations to topple this corporate invader. The article concludes by reflecting on some of the difficulties and possibilities that emerged during multi-year coalitional relationships that inform and exceed the children’s book. To reject racist and colonial dominant assumptions and discourses about outdoor spaces as only privileged recreational areas or as a “blank slate” devoid of people and culture, this project narrates how grassroots organizers and scholars persist in continued study and struggle for power(ful) transformations in Jobos Bay and beyond.

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Engagement and Inclusion Experiences for Energy Communities. An Ongoing Case Study in Cagliari, Italy

Blečić,

Carrus,

Muroni

et al. 2023

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Community Energy Projects in the Caribbean: Advancing Socio-Economic Development and Energy Transitions

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Power System Modeling for the Study of High Penetration of Distributed Photovoltaic Energy

Power System Modeling for the Study of High Penetration of Distributed Photovoltaic Energy

“La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí”: Translating Collective Struggles for Environmental and Energy Justice in Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay Communities

Engagement and Inclusion Experiences for Energy Communities. An Ongoing Case Study in Cagliari, Italy

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