REVISTA DYNA ENERGÍA

Key words:

Fuentes de energía renovables, implicaciones sociales de la tecnología, desarrollo sostenible, microrredes, Renewable energy sources, social implications of technology, sustainable development, microgrids

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

ABSTRACT:
The path to achieve an increased use of renewable energy requires that the technical, political, and economic challenges are addressed in an integrated way. The objective of this paper is to present such socio-technical integration through the analysis of lessons learned in renewable energy in Puerto Rico. The pitfalls in the renewable energy market from technical, social and market acceptance perspectives are presented, as well as the main lessons on needed characteristics: a clear selection process of renewable energy suppliers to ensure socially and technically suitable projects, consistency in administrative decisions to achieve trust among stakeholders, effective inclusion of local communities for social acceptance, and transparency in establishing technical interconnection requirements. Considering the obstacles in the large-scale renewable market in Puerto Rico, distributed energy is presented as viable alternative that can better address social and technical challenges of renewable systems in tropical locations, in particular community microgrids.

Keywords: Renewable energy sources, social implications of technology, sustainable development, microgrids