Convergent will build and operate utility-scale solar-plus-storage in Puerto Rico, improving grid resilience.
December 18, 2024
minute read time
Jigar Shah
Former Director, Loan Programs Office
Jigar Shah served as Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from March 2021 to January 2025. He led and directed LPO’s loan authority to support deployment of innovative clean energy, advanced transportation, and Tribal energy projects in the United States. Prior, Shah was co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a service financing. Prior to Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change.
Shah was also featured in TIME's list of the "100 Most Influential People" in 2024.
Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.
As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO) today announced a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee of up to $584.5 million ($559.4 million in principal and $25.1 million in capitalized interest) to subsidiaries of Convergent Energy and Power Inc. (Convergent), a leading provider of energy storage solutions in North America. The loan guarantee would finance a solar photovoltaic (PV) system with an integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) and three stand-alone BESS projects across Puerto Rico—underscoring the Biden-Harris Administration’s deep commitment to rebuilding and modernizing Puerto Rico’s electric grid. Convergent submitted its loan application to LPO in August 2023.
The solar PV system can generate enough energy to power approximately 19,000 homes each year, helping deliver affordable energy solutions that will benefit communities grappling with poor grid reliability and high energy costs. The project is expected to enhance Puerto Rico’s grid reliability and stability by adding generation and storage capacity near load centers. Widescale solar and battery storage deployment can help benefit communities across the island by reducing Puerto Rico’s high energy costs, which, on average, are significantly higher than the U.S. average.
The project is also expected to result in the avoidance of nearly 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions on an annual basis by reducing the need to operate fossil fuel-powered generation. This amount is equivalent to the emissions of 335,000 houses’ energy usage per year.
Convergent’s solar-plus-storage installation in the municipality of Coamo would be a 100-MW solar PV system with a 55.5-MW (64.1-MWh) BESS. The BESS installations in the municipalities of Caguas, Penuelas, and Ponce will have a collective capacity of up to 225 MW (900 MWh). The solar PV facility would deliver approximately 200,000 MWh of energy annually directly into Puerto Rico’s grid––with the stand-alone BESS installations providing up to 900 MWh of storage capacity annually. As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to create good-paying, high-quality job opportunities in communities across the country, this project would support approximately 540 construction jobs and around 20 full-time jobs once fully operational.
Convergent’s solar PV and battery storage systems can both increase and enable renewable energy generation while playing a vital role in improving energy resilience and affordability. These projects can also help Puerto Rico meet its ambitious clean energy and climate policy goals. The Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act (Act 17) requires Puerto Rico’s utility to cease all coal-fired energy generation by 2028 and shift to a 100% renewable energy mix by 2050. To help Puerto Rico reach 100% clean energy resources by 2050, the solar PV system can generate power directly to Puerto Rico’s grid, and the battery facilities can provide storage benefits necessary for transmission system resilience.
LPO borrowers are required to develop and ultimately implement a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan that ensures meaningful community and labor engagement, improves the well-being of residents and workers, and incorporates strong labor standards during construction, operations, and throughout the life of the loan guarantee. Convergent is evaluating potential workforce agreements in support of the project. In addition, Convergent expects to establish apprenticeship programs to train apprentices to carry out at least 15% of total work hours. These programs will be established with the majority of participants originating from communities local to the projects.
The financing for this project would be through the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment (EIR) program under Title 17 Clean Energy Financing (Section 1706). Established by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, EIR can finance projects that retool, repower, repurpose, or replace energy infrastructure that has ceased operations or that enable operating energy infrastructure to avoid, reduce, utilize, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. In support of President Biden’s efforts to support economic revitalization in energy communities, this project will assist in the replacement of coal energy infrastructure with clean energy facilities — creating new job opportunities while lowering harmful emissions.
Today’s announcement is the latest in a string of actions DOE has taken to help strengthen Puerto Rico’s grid modernization and energy resiliency. In December 2022, President Biden authorized $1 billion for the establishment of the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF), which is administered by DOE’s Grid Deployment Office. The PR-ERF is a separate federal funding source to drive key investments in renewable and resilient energy infrastructure in Puerto Rico. For more information on possible pathways that Puerto Rico can take to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2050, read DOE’s Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100).
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE’s intent to finance the project, DOE and the company must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and authorizes the funding of the loan guarantee.