Effects of Hurricane Maria on Renewable Energy Systems in Puerto Rico

This paper describes and discuss the effects that Hurricane Maria had on the photovoltaic (PV) and wind electric power generation systems in Puerto Rico. When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, it caused a complete power outage in the island that lasted for many weeks and months in most areas of the island because of the severe impact this storm had on power transmission and distribution networks. However, Maria also severely impacted renewable energy systems. This paper describes the effects that Hurricane Maria had on renewable energy systems. This paper also discusses how renewable energy systems were used in a distributed manner in order to mitigate the impact of the extremely large power grid outage that followed the hurricane. The analysis in this paper is supported by extensive photographic records obtained during field damage assessment performed a few weeks after Hurricane Maria affected Puerto Rico.