Puerto Rico solar project creates opportunity for Spanish company

GPtech installs inverters and power plant controller at Puerto Rico solar plant

GPtech’s involvement in the first utility-scale solar plant in Puerto Rico could position the Spanish company for a bigger role on the world solar stage.

GPtech provided the solar inverters and power plant controller for a 20-megawatt solar facility inaugurated earlier this month. It’s the largest solar installation in Puerto Rico and the first truly utility-scale project there.

The project opens up a lot of opportunity for GPtech in the United States territory.

Puerto Rico is aggressively installing solar and looking for new renewable energy projects.

“There are around 40 projects with PPA signed already,” writes Carlos Pereira, US country manager for GPtech. “All of them will need to meet the requirements and GPtech can offer technical solutions to do so.”

Puerto Rico’s solar industry is growing rapidly. The territory recently passed a renewable energy portfolio standard requiring it to get 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources like solar by 2035.

“(They did it) in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels that make the island very dependent on uncertain future costs and pollute the air,” Pereira writes.

The grid on the island is tangled and complicated. Creating a comprehensive inverter and management system that made sense and worked wasn’t easy, Pereira said. A lot of the world understands how difficult Puerto Rico’s system would be to work with.

“Being the first PV inverters and power plant controller installed in a utility-scale facility in Puerto Rico is a good reference not only for the US, but also for the rest of the world because of the complexity of the challenge,” Pereira said.

While the project will be good for GPtech globally and endorse its abilities to tackle complicated projects around the world, the company is already working on growing its business in Puerto Rico’s parent country.

“GPtech has also participated on a PV project in California and it is in the process to close several more projects in the next four months,” Pereira writes.

The company is in Chile this week, promoting its products and expertise to solar developers there.