Pattern Energy’s investments will provide grid stability and reliability for low-income communities who face frequent power outages with flood-resistant solar PV and BESS facilities designed to withstand winds up to 150 mph.
January 17, 2025
minute read time
Jigar Shah
Former Director, Loan Programs Office
Jigar Shah served as Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from March 2021 to January 2025. He led and directed LPO’s loan authority to support deployment of innovative clean energy, advanced transportation, and Tribal energy projects in the United States. Prior, Shah was co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change.
Shah was also featured in TIME's list of the "100 Most Influential People" in 2024.
Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $489.4 million ($473.8 million in principal and $15.6 million in capitalized interest) to Amanecer Puerto Rico LLC, a subsidiary of Pattern Energy. If finalized, the loan guarantee will finance Project Amanecer, a project consisting of three stand-alone battery energy storage systems (BESS) totaling 180 MW (720 MWh) and a 70 MW-ac solar photovoltaic (PV) system with an integrated BESS in Puerto Rico—underscoring the Biden-Harris Administration’s deep commitment to rebuilding and modernizing Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Pattern Energy submitted its loan application to LPO in October 2023.
The project will support approximately 615 construction jobs and 3 full-time operations jobs once fully operational. The company is working with its subcontractors to develop apprenticeship programs connected to the project. Once complete, the solar photovoltaic generation facility will deliver roughly 165,000 MWh of clean power annually to Puerto Rico, while the stand-alone energy storage projects will provide critical dispatch capacity at significant scale.
Pattern Energy's investments in utility-scale PV solar and battery storage help provide affordable electricity in Puerto Rico while making the grid more stable and more reliable. The solar PV system will generate power directly to Puerto Rico’s grid, and the battery storage facilities will provide system resilience by providing capacity and stability services that currently come from central power plants. One of the three stand-alone BESS systems will be installed through Puerto Rico’s Accelerated Storage Addition Program, a program designed for BESS at sites requiring minimal effort to interconnect and contribute to a more stable electric power supply on a quicker timeline.
The replacement of fuel-fired power generation will result in a reduction of 65,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions, equivalent to the emissions from over 8,700 average US homes’ annual energy use. Pattern Energy’s investments contribute to the 3,750 MW of solar PV and 1,500 MW of 4-hour battery energy storage systems Puerto Rico plans to install through 2035 to meet the island’s goal of generating 100% clean energy by 2050.
Today’s announcement supports low-income communities in developing economic opportunities. Each facility in the project is designed to be flood-resistant and to withstand winds up to 150 mph, providing better reliability for communities who frequently face storm-induced outages.
LPO borrowers are required to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan that ensures meaningful community and labor engagement, improves the well-being of residents and workers, and incorporates strong labor standards during construction, operations, and throughout the life of the loan guarantee. Pattern Energy intends to partner with local technical schools and universities on workforce development and provide employment opportunities for the communities that Pattern Energy serves. Pattern Energy is working with mayors of municipalities hosting their project sites and has made a strong commitment to local subcontracting and hiring. Pattern Energy has a long track-record of community investment and working with local labor groups.
Financing for this project would be through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program under Title 17 Clean Energy Financing (Section 1706). Established by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, EIR can finance projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or that enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. Per the presidentially appointed Financial Oversight & Management Board, savings to power producers that result from LPO financing must be reflected in a directly proportional decrease in utility customer rates.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of actions DOE has taken to help strengthen Puerto Rico’s grid modernization and energy resiliency. In December 2022, President Biden authorized $1 billion for the establishment of the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF), which is administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office. The PR-ERF is a separate federal funding source to drive key investments in renewable and resilient energy infrastructure in Puerto Rico.
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and authorizes the funding of the loan guarantee.