Bruce Walker, the newly installed assistant secretary in DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, says his recent two-week visit to Puerto Rico showed the need to make the island’s electric grid more resilient against future storms. The same goes for the U.S. Virgin Islands, he said. Deploying line crews and equipment on the islands has proven more difficult than on the mainland, he said, noting the challenge presented by mountainous terrain. In Puerto Rico, he said in a press release, “some 18 electrical substations were inundated by water, three of which were unable to be re-energized due to the severe damage.” He said a DOE team is also looking into microgrids for increased durability in future storms.
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