An Assessment of Opportunities and Barriers to Solar Finance in Puerto Rico: Second Edition

This is an update to the report on solar energy financing in Puerto Rico, first published in 2021 by the Puerto Rican Solar Business Accelerator, a program led by IREC.

This updated assessment report begins with a concise summary of installed solar capacity in Puerto Rico, including both rooftop-distributed generation and utility-scale solar farms. It is followed by a discussion on supply chain issues for the solar industry and how external things like health pandemics and armed conflicts can and did affect the solar industry in Puerto Rico.

Section III and IV describe the variety of conventional and innovative financing sources and capital available for solar and solar-plus-storage in Puerto Rico, along with a discussion of trends, current status, and opportunities for expansion. These sections cover the importance of finance offered through solar installation companies, federal programs, savings and loans cooperatives, the traditional banking sector, direct social impact investment mechanisms, and major events affecting the international solar market.

The conclusion includes a general discussion of the findings and recommendations for moving forward in making solar-plus-storage more widely available to Puerto Rico via robust and sustainable finance options.