Back
When music superstar Bad Bunny climbed an electric pole during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, he showcased a painful reality during what was otherwise a joyous celebration of Puerto Rican culture.
Puerto Rico’s power grid has been crumbling for nearly a decade, ever since Hurricanes Irma and Maria battered the U.S. territory in 2017 and all but destroyed its centralized electricity system. Bad Bunny highlights the ailing grid in his 2022 song “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), which he sang yesterday from a sparking utility pole in a show seen by perhaps 135 million viewers.
Despite billions of federal recovery dollars and post-hurricane repairs, Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million residents continue to endure widespread disruptions, electrical surges, and soaring electricity rates — even on storm-free days. Utility customers in Puerto Rico experienced an average of 27 hours of power grid interruptions not related to major events like hurricanes per year between 2021 and 2024. By contrast, people living on the U.S. mainland lacked power for an average of just two hours per year, according to federal data.
Yet rather than invest in Puerto Rico’s recovery, the Trump administration is clawing back key federal funding meant to modernize and decarbonize the territory’s electricity system.
In January, the Department of Energy canceled $450 million for grid resilience programs in Puerto Rico, Latitude Media recently reported. The clawback effectively marks the end of the $1 billion Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund that the Biden administration launched in 2023 to help keep people’s lights on and their schools open, hospitals running, and supermarkets stocked.
President Donald Trump’s DOE had previously redirected $365 million of that funding meant for rooftop solar and battery storage projects toward “practical fixes and emergency activities.” To the administration, that means doubling down on the old model: far-flung power plants fueled by coal, oil, and gas, which send electricity along transmission lines that crisscross the island — and which were mercilessly mowed down during last decade’s hurricanes.
But some energy experts and community leaders say that approach is impractical. They argue that building clean and distributed energy systems close to population centers is the best way to supply Puerto Ricans with reliable, affordable power that can withstand natural disasters.
Rooftop solar systems with batteries have already become a lifeline for residents and community groups across the archipelago. Amid a power-generation shortfall last July, Puerto Rico’s grid operator relied on customers’ batteries to prevent the grid from collapsing.
As of June 2025, 1.2 gigawatts of grid-connected rooftop solar were installed on homes and businesses, supplying more than 10% of the total energy used, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. That tally doesn’t include the many off-grid systems that people have installed to shore up their own resiliency.
Still, many low- and moderate-income households aren’t able to access the benefits of clean, distributed energy, a challenge that the federal programs were meant to help address. Advocates are still pressing ahead. Casa Pueblo, a community organization in Puerto Rico, recently released a study that outlines how more people can be brought into the fold with “microgrids” — groups of solar panels and batteries that serve entire districts or neighborhoods, not just individual buildings.
In 2023, Casa Pueblo launched one of Puerto Rico’s first microgrids in the tranquil mountain town of Adjuntas. The initiative has since expanded to include five small systems in Adjuntas that serve a handful of residences and 15 businesses, including La Conquista Laundry. Nicky Vázquez, who owns the laundromat, said he’s seen an 80% reduction in his electricity bill and had no power outages since joining the microgrid in mid-2025.
“Now I have stability, I don’t run out of power, and I can continue to provide service,” Vázquez said in a statement provided by Casa Pueblo.
Yesterday’s Super Bowl was hardly the first time that Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has spoken out about Puerto Rico’s power struggles. Last April, when the territory was once again plunged into darkness, he asked on social media: “¿Cuando vamos a hacer algo?” When are we going to do something?
.svg)
