Introduction
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is an island located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea and, as of 2012, has a population of approximately 3.7 million people. The area of Puerto Rico is 3,515 square miles, and the approximate dimensions are 100 miles east to west and 35 miles north to south. To the East side of the Island of Puerto Rico there are also two (2) small island that are part of the Commonwealth and go under the name of Vieques and Culebras. The climate is a tropical marine climate with very little temperature variation throughout the year. The main utility company that controls all the electrical grid and power production is the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), a monopoly owned by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is particularly well suited for solar photovoltaic(PV)installation because of the solar resource availability all year long. Nevertheless, Puerto Rico is facing many energychallenges. Puerto Rico’s energy costs are two to three times higher than in the United States overall because the Island relies heavily on oil to generate electricity. When the price of oil spikes, as it did in the summer of 2008, the effect on businesses and other consumers is devastating. Those high and unpredictable energy costs have made the Island less desirable for businesses, which, in turn, have contributed to a declining manufacturing base and increased unemployment. Moreover, Puerto Ricans have less disposable income because their utility bills are among the highest in the nation.
The recent 2008-2012 former Governor LuisFortuño declared “an energy crisis” in its tenure due to Puerto Rico’s dependence on oil and “an obsolete infrastructure ”. Renewable energy (photovoltaic) has aroused as a possible solution to synchronize with the actual demand and production of energy in the island (Puerto Rico Task Force Report, March 11, 2011).
On the other end, stronglyincreasing power generation based on volatile energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, sets new requirements on design, planning and operation of power systems. In addition, the demand for regulating reserve power and ancillary services is drastically increasing, forcing power system operators to intensify the use of system flexibility measures and non-conventional operating concepts (Electrochemical Energy Conversion andStorage Systems Group (EEC), Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives, RWTH Aachen University Jägerstraße 17-19, 52066 Aachen, Germany).
Therefore, this term paperwill look into the feasibility of synchronizing the production of photovoltaic energy with the actual infrastructure as well as with the present energy policies and political changes.