PR-ERF is a $1 billion program to make Puerto Rico’s electricity system more reliable, resilient, and affordable for all of Puerto Rico. It is managed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) in coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Government of Puerto Rico.
Under presidential and gubernatorial directives, the program is designed to address grid infrastructure needs within the transmission, distribution, and generation systems due to aged infrastructure and devastation from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. There is a three-pronged focus on this work: address resource adequacy crises, decrease outages, and stabilize the electric grid supporting the island’s 3.2 million residents.
"Every dollar remains invested in Puerto Rico. This reflects our continued commitment to responsible stewardship, accountability, and building a stronger, more reliable energy future for the people of Puerto Rico."
Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza
Guided by recent DOE assessments, planning analyses, and meetings with stakeholders, DOE is reallocating funds toward grid projects that provide the greatest near-term impact on grid stability, safety, and reliability. These strategic allocations ensure that federal resources deliver the highest benefit to Puerto Rico at the moments that matter most.
Program Goals
The PR‑ERF program advances Puerto Rico’s affordability, reliability, and security objectives by funding near‑term emergency measures and strategic investments that measurably improve system performance and customer experience. The program supports DOE’s broader mission to enhance U.S. energy security and protect critical infrastructure by reducing the frequency and duration of outages, improving recovery times after major events, and addressing long‑standing resource adequacy challenges on the island.
PR‑ ERF investments are selected and sequenced to deliver benefits for households, critical services, and the regional economy, while complementing longer‑term efforts to modernize generation, create resilient infrastructure, and strengthen Puerto Rico’s role in U.S. energy and supply‑chain security. Priorities include:
- Affordability
- Lowering energy bills for consumers so that they can afford other basic household expenses without feeling overburdened.
- Optimizing federal funding to maximize benefits for Puerto Rico customers.
- Reliability
- Improving the power system’s ability to consistently deliver electricity to homes, buildings, and devices, even in the face of instability, uncontrolled events, cascading failures, or unanticipated loss of system components.
- Reducing interruption durations on the island’s transmission and distribution systems to no more than 23 minutes per customer per year by the end of 2028.
- Reducing system interruptions to no more than 3 interruptions per customer per year by the end of 2028.
- Security
- Enhancing the ability of Puerto Rico’s electricity system to withstand and recover from disruptions such as power outages, natural disasters, or cyberattacks, and safeguarding uninterrupted supply chain operations and the availability of critical grid components.
- Decreasing the recovery time from a major weather event to no more than 10 days for at least 90 percent of customers by 2028.
Projects (P)
In February 2025, Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González-Colón requested that the Department of Energy (DOE) launch a comprehensive assessment of the island’s electric grid. Years of underinvestment and the impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 left the electrical grid system fragile and vulnerable.
Our work includes:
- diagnosing critical grid failures
- identifying barriers to recovery and modernization
- strengthening the energy system by implementing actionable, engineering-driven recommendations.
Part of this effort includes examining how essential services (i.e., communications and fuel supply) depend on the grid. A disruption in one inevitably affects the others, making an integrated approach essential.
By delivering reliability improvements island-wide, we can end an energy emergency faster. PR-ERF funds have been prioritized to repair power plants, replace failed transformers, restore key transmission corridors, modernize substations, and automate distribution feeders to
- reduce the frequency and duration of outages across the island
- increase dispatchable capacity and planning reserves so that the system can meet peak demand and withstand equipment failures without cascading blackouts
- shorten the recovery time after major events by having a more resilient energy system.
The program is about stabilizing the electricity system so that all 3.2 million residents, including underserved and medically vulnerable households, experience more reliable power.
Every project milestone reflects the dedication and commitment of our team to the people of Puerto Rico. From successful project execution to operational improvements, each achievement has contributed to building a more reliable and resilient grid.
Project Highlights
Purpose: This project funds repairs to damaged meter equipment so that new smart meters can be safely installed and work as intended. Electricians will fix or replace meter enclosures, riser pipes, and related hardware at thousands of homes and businesses across the island.
Impact: Protects customers from unexpected expenses while enabling safe and efficient meter distribution.
Purpose: This project replaces six failed or high-risk, large power transformers in key substations, including Monacillo, Caguas, Bayamón, Mora, and Fajardo. Restoring these transformers brings back critical redundancy (or backup) and flexibility so that the grid can keep serving communities even when equipment fails or maintenance is needed. These transformers had an average age of 55 years, making their replacement a critical investment for the electric system.
Impact: Accelerates critical substation readiness and reduces installation delays that benefit approximately 350,000 customers, which is nearly 25% of total users.
LUMA News Release – DOE Visit
LUMA News Release – New Transformer at Mora Substation
Purpose: This project repairs and re-energizes at least five out-of-service transmission lines that are critical for moving power across the island. Work includes replacing damaged structures and conductors and testing cables so that power can flow safely.
Impact: Installing five new transmission structures in the Quebrada Negrito area of Truillo Alto restores power in high-risk corridors and reduces the frequency and duration of large-scale outages for approximately 137,000 customers.
Purpose: This project replaces aging switchgear at the substation supporting Old San Juan with Covadonga and Llorens Torres substations to reduce the number of outages and duration should an outage occur.
Impact: Improves safety, reduces the risk of equipment failure, and enhances substation resiliency to ensure continuity of electric service for more than 14,000 customers including essential government facilities, the Port of San Juan, and Isla Grande Airport.
Purpose: This project deploys 145 smart grid sensors (also known as automated devices) on some of the worst performing distribution feeders/power lines across Puerto Rico to improve usage response time and restoration.
Impact: Deploying 145 smart, automated devices allows the power provider to remotely isolate faults and restore power to more than 32,000 customers across multiple regions within minutes instead of hours. This work supports DOE’s efforts in Puerto Rico to stabilize the current electric grid, modernize grid infrastructure, and optimize the power system for more efficient, reliable services.
Purpose: This project delivers targeted system upgrades to substations, protection systems, telecommunication, and transmission structures that create risks on the high-voltage network. Additional actions include replacing critical breakers and batteries, improving wide-area protection, repairing network sensing, and replacing damaged structures.
Impact: Once complete, this project modernizes the electric grid with smarter technology that improves reliability, detects problems faster, and helps keep the power on when equipment fails.
Purpose: Through DOE’s Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund, this project repairs critical infrastructure and supports upgrades to inspection capabilities to detect vegetation threats, structural issues, and encroachments along transmission corridors.
Impact: Work done restores San Juan Unit 7 and returns 100 megawatts of capacity to Puerto Rico’s electric grid.
Watch the Video | DOE-OE LinkedIn Post | DOE-OE X Post | Genera PR Post
Purpose: This project organized and enforced a clear program for third-party attachments (like telecom cables) on Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA)-owned poles. It consolidates guidelines, identifies abandoned or noncompliant attachments, and ensures that improper or overloaded installations are corrected or removed.
Impact: Specific substation upgrades and improvements enhance grid reliability, strengthen energy resilience, and support economic activity in Old San Juan and surrounding communities.
Purpose: This project funded 12 major repair packages across key generation units at San Juan, Aguirre, Costa Sur, Cambalache, Mayaguez, Palo Seco, and others. Work ranges from boiler and turbine overhauls and rotor rewinds to cooling tower, transformer, and protection-relay rehabilitation, returning critical units to safe efficient service.
Watch: Assistant Secretary Jereza at Cambalache Plant
Impact: DOE’s investments are funding the repair and rehabilitation of 1,224 megawatts of generation capacity, upgrades to substations and telecommunications systems, the energization of large power transformers, and the construction of reliable fuel supply infrastructure positively impacting nearly 735,000 customers.
DOE-OE LinkedIn Post | DOE-OE LinkedIn Post | DOE-OE X Post | DOE-OE X Post
Purpose: This project designs and builds on an existing pipeline route between the San Juan and Palo Seco power plants. The line will include block valves, meter stations, and best-practice construction methods to ensure safe, reliable fuel delivery.
Impact: The natural gas connection is aimed at designing and constructing an approximately 3.75-mile fuel facility along the existing right-of-way to deliver fuel oils for the Palo Seco power station. By reducing on-road liquid natural gas (LNG) carriers and transporting fuel via a fuel line, the Palo Seco power station is expected to increase electricity system resilience. This project is expected to generate significant cost savings for customers and environmental benefits for neighboring communities.
Purpose: This project provides optical ground wire fiber installation on two transmission corridors and a land mobile radio three-phase upgrade for island-wide operational communications.
Impact: The $12.4 million in avoided costs, fully funded by DOE, significantly reduces the need for internal upgrades/improvements. The program will also lower operational expenses by replacing old communication equipment with modern technology and makes operations more reliable and secure by reducing single points of failure.
Purpose: This project is a targeted reliability initiative focused on executing corrective actions on feeders with chronic underperformance with liability to fail during storms.
Impact: This prioritizes capital investment projects that have already been engineered and scoped, enabling immediate construction and field execution for a quick turnaround in preparation for storm season.
"This progress is the result of people working through complex challenges with a shared focus on reliability. We're seeing what can happen when we work together for affordable, reliable, and secure energy."
Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza