Sunnova powers 30K customers in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona
Sunnova Energy International Inc., a U.S. Energy as a Service (EaaS) provider, announced it powered the homes of more than 30,000 customers with solar and battery storage in Puerto Rico during the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, from September 18 to October 1, 2022, while the island’s power grid was out of service.
During the approximately two weeks immediately following the hurricane, when most residents in Puerto Rico were without power, Sunnova SunSafe solar + storage systems generated a total of nearly 2GWh of energy.
“We’re proud of our long history and commitment to Puerto Rico that includes an investment of more than $1 billion in building residential solar and storage systems on the island,” said John Berger, CEO of Sunnova.
“That investment meant 30,000 customers were able to keep the lights on and their families safe,” he said.
During that time, Sunnova provided 3.4 million hours of aggregate back-up power for solar + storage customers in Puerto Rico, with an average of 128 hours of power generated per household.
Sunnova customers averaged 5.3 days of solar + storage battery backup with many residents remaining dependent on their Sunnova system for more than 10 days.
“Out of our more than 30,000 Sunnova SunSafe systems in Puerto Rico, only 59 required repair in the two weeks following the Hurricane, and Sunnova dispatched crews immediately to repair or replace non-performing systems, whether they were leased or owned,” said Michael Grasso, chief marketing and growth officer of Sunnova.
“Looking ahead, we see an opportunity for distributed power to play a larger role in Puerto Rico by networking our solar + storage systems into powerful virtual power plants that would complement the centralized electric system and drive increased grid resiliency.”
Sunnova has been active in Puerto Rico since 2013 and has the largest presence on the island with over 38,000 customers and growing rapidly.
The company has deployed nearly 40,000 batteries in Puerto Rico and has a 100% battery attachment rate since 2018.
