DOE grants $490 million loan for 220 MW of battery capacity in Puerto Rico

The U.S. Department of Energy has closed a $489.4 million loan to fund 220 megawatts of battery storage in Puerto Rico, built by Dawn Puerto Rico, a subsidiary of Pattern Energy. The batteries will sit in Arecibo and Santa Isabel and use U.S.-made technology. The DOE hasn't said how much energy the systems can actually store (measured in megawatt-hours) or how long they can discharge before recharging.

The agency expects the batteries to back up power for more than 100,000 customers during shortages and to prevent about 13 million cumulative hours of outages, based on 2025 grid data. It also projects the project will lower electricity costs for Puerto Rican households and businesses by roughly $312.5 million over the next 25 years. The deal was reworked under the current administration and now leaves room for possibly adding natural-gas-fired power generation later, though no size, location, or timeline for that has been set.

This is a scaled-back version of a plan first announced in January 2025, which had called for 180 MW of battery storage plus a 70-megawatt solar array with its own storage. The solar component has been dropped, and total battery capacity is now listed at 220 MW, though the DOE hasn't broken down how that splits between the two sites. This is grid-level infrastructure, not a program homeowners apply to directly, but it's part of a broader federal effort to shore up Puerto Rico's power supply through emergency orders issued since 2025, especially ahead of hurricane season.