Electric grid reliability is a major concern in Puerto Rico. Only 53% of the island's total generation capacity is expected to be available at any given time due to failing equipment or scheduled maintenance, which makes residents distrustful of the island's utility system. But LUMA Energy, a private distribution and transmission company in Puerto Rico, has shown that both grid reliability and customer trust can be rebuilt through virtual power plants (VPPs).
A new case study by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), Lessons Learned from Puerto Rico's First Virtual Power Plant, profiles Puerto Rico's first VPP program.
This case study explores how customer-centered program design and collaborative efforts between the utility, program aggregators, and end users helped bring LUMA Energy's Customer Battery Energy Sharing (CBES) program to life and scale it into a model for clean, resilient power.
The CBES program is structured to leverage residential and commercial solar and battery systems to stabilize the grid while rewarding participants for contributing stored energy during periods of peak demand. LUMA and its participating aggregators provide customers with robust support and resources. Customers are compensated for the energy they contribute to the grid, and they can easily control their participation in grid events through user-friendly apps. In the summer of 2025, the program helped address a nearly 50-megawatt generation shortfall, preventing power outages in many areas across the island.
Puerto Rico's first VPP program provides a customer-driven model for how distributed energy resources can be aggregated to enhance grid resilience, reduce peak demand, and deliver community-wide benefits.
This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the National Community Solar Partnership+ (NCSP+), in partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In addition to resource creation under NCSP+, CESA also facilitates working groups on:
- Solar+storage monetization
- Energy affordability
- Community solar
Working group participation is open to state agency offices, quasi-public agencies created through state legislation or executive order, and nonprofit administrators of statewide energy programs. Learn more about these working groups at CESA's NCSP+ webpage.
Clean Energy States Alliance
