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Renewable Electricity Technologies to Increase the Resilience of the Food Supply System in Puerto Rico

Informally Refereed

Abstract

This paper describes the challenges and potential opportunities for using renewable electricity technologies to increase the resilience of Puerto Rico’s food supply system (including commodity production, processing, storage, and distribution) to prolonged (2 days to 6 months) utility power outages. This need is essential because the island’s grid electricity has proven to be very susceptible to long-run outages related to severe weather and geologic events (e.g., Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and earthquakes in 2019 and 2020) as well as outages related to aging and poorly maintained infrastructure. Hurricane Maria destroyed more than 80 percent of Puerto Rico’s crop value, with infrastructure damages of $1.8 billion in Puerto Rico’s agricultural sector.

Keywords

Renewable energy, hurricanes, Puerto Rico, Climate change

Citation

Garffer, Patricia; Schultz, C; Xiarchos, IM; Rojowsky, W; D’Costa, P; Man, D; Lewandrowski, J; Pape, D. 2020. Renewable Electricity Technologies to Increase the Resilience of the Food Supply System in Puerto Rico. USDA, Office of the Chief Economist. November 2020.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/63287