CEBA Member Highlight: Enel X and Eaton
Celebrating #REBAEarthMonth with Sustainability: Enel X and Eaton collaborate for a resilient future
As CEBA focuses on Earth Day and the importance of sustainability throughout April, Enel X and Eaton are joining in the celebration. Both Enel X and Eaton work to help accelerate the energy transition, most recently by partnering to develop a microgrid in Puerto Rico. The project demonstrates how Enel X and Eaton are focused on helping customers and communities unlock a more resilient energy future.
Collaboration is Key to Success
Enel X and Eaton share a vision for improving sustainability and fighting climate change, bringing their unparalleled expertise and technologies to benefit customers and local energy ecosystems. That shared vision was crucial to the success of this project.
The microgrid is located at Eaton’s Arecibo plant in Puerto Rico, which manufactures circuit breakers for buildings, homes and industrial applications. The project features both on-site solar generation and battery storage. It will enable Eaton to generate, store and consume renewable energy while reducing stress on regional utility infrastructure. Eaton can also share clean energy back onto Puerto Rico’s electrical grid during periods of excess generation.
The project will help Puerto Rico reach its latest renewable energy goals, after the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, the island’s energy regulator, in 2020 released its Integrated Resource Plan, which includes a mandate for microgrids and renewable energy. The targets are 1300 MW of storage and 3500 MW of solar by 2025. The microgrid helps in accomplishing these goals on the island.
Enel X will build, own and operate the system on behalf of Eaton, while Eaton will provide installation expertise and key control technology for the microgrid system.
A Benefit to the Community
Eaton aims to have a positive impact on its local communities with all projects, and the microgrid fit that mission. Because of the success of the project, Enel X and Eaton are looking to replicate it elsewhere—they’re examining additional opportunities in Puerto Rico to provide a microgrid-as-a-service approach together.
A “Postcard from the Future”
The project is one of the largest microgrids built on Puerto Rico, dubbed a “postcard from the future” by Wood Mackenzie for island communities and other centralized grid systems transitioning to more distributed resources. This microgrid model proves that clean energy and reliability go hand-in-hand as Puerto Rico and other communities double down on renewable electricity commitments amidst worsening extreme weather.
Get Involved
Hear more about innovative projects during the CEBA Member Summit on May 4 – 20. Registration is open to CEBA members, and non-members can purchase ticketed-access to select content.