The director of the Electric Power Authority (AEE), José Ortiz, said that a tax on those who produce their energy through renewable sources – such as solar panel systems – is necessary, since the operational network must be maintained.
Ortiz confirmed that at the recent meeting of Governor Wanda Vázquez with lawmakers, in which he participated to discuss the PREPA debt restructuring agreement, the so-called sun tax. The engineer stressed that if the law is established that by 2050 the entire generation on the island must be from renewable sources, it would be necessary to consider who will pay for the network.
“It depends on the network to be able to work with the net metering (net measurement program), work with the wheeling (transfer of electrical energy). You have to put a charge, which is not really a charge to the sun; It is a charge to support the network. From somewhere you have to get money to maintain a network that will serve everyone, ”said Ortiz. The transhipment is the interconnection of the facility of renewable energy generation of a particular producer to the Puerto Rican electricity network to be sold to another consumer or consumers. Meanwhile, the net measurement refers to the interconnection to the electricity grid to allow the feedback of electricity to customers who have installed equipment capable of producing electricity, using a meter that measures the flow of electricity in two directions.
On renewable energy, just yesterday, the Fiscal Oversight Board called PREPA to be more agile in that movement. Ortiz acknowledges that they are very slow and blamed the delay to the same bankruptcy of the public corporation. “Improving credit is part of accelerating the movement towards renewable energy,” he said. However, he anticipated Meter which in March expects to sign agreements with several renewable energy companies. “We are negotiating below 10 cents, we have almost 700 megawatts, and if we can put all the government effort in terms of permission behind that, for next year we could have projects that generate energy not only cleaner, but more cheap than what Costa Sur generated, ”said Ortiz.
As for the change in the governor’s position on the PREPA debt restructuring agreement, the engineer said he was not surprised because “she understands that some agreement must be reached.” He added that Vázquez’s recent position is trying to reach a better agreement, something that is in the hands of the Fiscal Oversight Board. “It is not easy (renegotiate the agreement), but there is some openness, ”said the head of PREPA.
The change of position of the first executive came after the failed attempt to get the legislators to commit to the agreement. Ortiz is convinced that what was responsible was to bring the issue before legislators. However, he awarded the failure of that management to the election year. “In the election year it is very difficult to approve anything that impacts the people, for more explanations you can give and as much as you can show that in the long run it is positive. It is very difficult to talk about impositions in the election year, ”said the engineer. Ortiz said there were no threats or blackmail to the legislators, although they have perceived it that way. But he admitted talking about how not getting the deal with the bondholders to get out of bankruptcy could affect access to federal funds, not FEMA under the 428 program, but CDBG-DR funds. Ortiz said he has received impressions in the federal capital on how Puerto Rico wants help without straightening its finances, although he acknowledged that it is not a condition embodied in any document. “Even if they tell you, nobody will write it down,” he said.
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