Puerto Rico Trip Report from Cynthia Arellano, Project Manager

As the season changes, it is important to reflect on the grand strides the community of Adjuntas has taken. ACESA (Asociación Comunitaria de Energia Solar Adjunteña, or the Community Solar Energy Association of Adjuntas) is now a registered non-profit with a leadership team of ten local business owners. These business owners represent the 17 businesses that will be powered by the microgrid. Together, business owners have been working together to create a community that is more energy conscious and focused on the resiliency of Adjuntas.

On my most recent trip to Puerto Rico, it was my top priority to reconnect with the community. To understand and openly discuss their challenges and concerns that had come about the midst of a pandemic, and as a result of multiple earthquakes in Puerto Rico. 

I also used this time on the ground to take measurements of where our equipment would sit and discuss agreements for more land acquisition. We started installation earlier this year, but were delayed due to COVID-19’s impacts in the community and on the supply chain. Despite the delays, the community has remained resolute, and as of October 2020, installations have officially continued!

Since travel during these strange times has to be minimized, I wanted to take time to share some of the stories and perspectives of the people and community that this project serves. The incredible resolve and commitment they've shown is ultimately the key to this project's success, and we’re honored to have the people of Adjuntas and ACESA as our partners in this initiative. 

Tata, the owner of Ferreteria Osvaldo, holding the hardware store’s hottest selling product these days— a solar powered radio. With frequent and extended power outages (sometimes for days,) Tata has realized that solar powered radios are an essential tool for communication and entertainment in Adjuntas. Every customer that walks in gets a demonstration of the clarity of the music, the high volume, and the flashlight attachment. Tata has two of these at home and depends on them for entertainment for when the power is out.

As Adjuntas’s one stop shop for technology and electronics, Digital Point relies on consistent electricity, and the community relies on Digital Point. From faxing and printing, to providing means of communications, it’s a business that can’t afford to lose power. In the wake of Hurricane Maria, Digital Point stepped up and with the use of a very loud and admittedly dangerous generator, fired up an internet connection that Adjuntas’s residents depended on to communicate with family, friends, and the outside world.

For some, Digital Point’s efforts were the only reason they could access Facebook to communicate with their families and mark themselves safe. After Maria, only AT&T phones were able to make calls, so there was a huge influx of people requesting the connection of new SIM cards, since Digital Point was the only provider of Adjuntas. Digital Point was also the only place in Adjuntas where residents could seek assistance with their FEMA paperwork— without it, the process of beginning to rebuild their damaged homes would have been impossible.

Sometimes the importance of these smaller acts go unnoticed, but this kind of access and availability in a small town like Adjuntas was essential in the wake of Maria, and has been since.

Glori, the owner of Digital Point, reflects on the drastic changes seen throughout his community since ACESA was first conceived of over a year ago. ACESA lay the foundation for a new way of working and cooperating with other business owners in the area— a dramatic shift from the past. Glori explained how the individual business owners, who in the past only said hello in the street, now walk into each other's business to check on one another. When the power went out for six days, the businesses owners right away connected through a WhatsApp group to see what the others needed. They asked if they needed to connect to the others generators, to store any food, and if they needed to charge phones. There was a clear shift.

In Glori’s eyes, the business owners of Adjuntas are no longer thinking only about themselves, they’re thinking about the collective.