Rooftop Solar Hits 20% of Puerto Rico Power Capacity

Rooftop Solar Surpasses Natural Gas as Puerto Rico's Second-Largest Generation Source

Rooftop solar now accounts for 20% of Puerto Rico's total power generation capacity, surpassing natural gas to become the island's second-largest capacity source behind petroleum, according to recently released data from the US Energy Information Administration. The milestone represents one of the most significant developments in Puerto Rico's energy transition and reflects an extraordinary pace of distributed solar installation driven by household and commercial adoption following years of unreliable grid service.

Extraordinary Rate of Solar Installation

Puerto Rico's distributed solar capacity reached 1,456 MW by the end of 2025, with 191,929 active rooftop solar systems installed island-wide. During 2025 alone, an average of 3,850 new rooftop systems were installed monthly. The EIA data shows that distributed solar accounted for 81% of all new generating capacity added to Puerto Rico's grid between 2016 and 2025, a figure that dramatically outpaces all other energy sources over the same period. Utility-scale solar, by contrast, accounts for an estimated 165 MW of capacity — far behind the distributed rooftop sector.

Battery Storage and Virtual Power Plants

Grid resilience concerns have driven parallel growth in battery storage. More than 171,000 households and businesses had installed battery systems by end-2025, representing 2,864 MWh of distributed storage capacity. Analyst firm Wood Mackenzie projects an additional 3,000 MWh to be added by 2030. LUMA Energy's Customer Battery Energy Sharing programme allows seven registered aggregators to manage fleets of customer-sited batteries, which can be called upon during peak demand events to help balance the grid. Governor Jenniffer González Colón's Act 1-2025 extended the island's only coal plant through 2032 while retaining the long-term 100% renewable energy goal for 2050. New LUMA CEO Janisse Quiñones began her tenure on March 30, 2026, with a stated focus on improving reliability.