Rocio Sotomayor-Irizarry

Resilient Power Puerto Rico

Resilient Power Puerto Rico is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization focused on strengthening communities' capacity to respond, rebuild, and prosper in the aftermath of natural disasters. Central to our mission is the belief that uninterrupted access to clean energy is essential to bolster the Islands' critical public and social infrastructure systems. We are committed to increasing local control of renewable energy assets to build more sustainable and equitable futures. RPPR seeks to: (1) increase access to the knowledge, tools, and resources needed for sustainable and equitable development; (2) democratize the development and manageent of climate adaptation assets; (3) increase the availability and accessibility to affordable renewable energy. The organization aims to democratize access to reliable, distributed, renewable energy through collectivized ownership of energy assets following a three-step process: (a) Co-learning, identify and assess the communities' critical climate adaptation and energy needs; (b) Co-designing, develop energy resilience proposals in which we determine total and critical energy loads, identify consumption reduction opportunities, and optimize solar energy system sizes; (c) Co-developing, match investors to projects and partner with organizations through the development and installation stage. To date Resilient Power Puerto Rico has developed 41 solar energy systems in partnership with 38 groups and organizations, handing over 220 kWh of energy generation to community hands. We've installed systems in more than 20 municipalities from Vieques to Mayagüez, in some of Puerto Rico's most marginalized and under-resourced communities.