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Orlando Bravo’s Foundation Finances Community Microgrids in Puerto Rico’s Central Mountain Range

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Orlando Bravo

By Metro Puerto Rico

Bravo Family Foundation formalized a financing agreement with Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña (CHM) to promote energy resilience in Puerto Rico’s Central Mountain Range, through a private investment of nearly $2.3 million for the development of 10 Community Energy Resilience Centers.

The agreement will bring renewable energy to several municipalities in the region through the installation of community microgrids that integrate photovoltaic systems and batteries, with the goal of ensuring the continuity of essential services even when the main electric grid fails.

The investment is part of a $5.8 million project led by Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña, with support from Puerto Rico’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR3) and federal funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants program.

In total, the project includes the installation of 10 community microgrids, with an aggregate capacity of 875 kilowatts of solar generation and 1.85 megawatt-hours of storage. Each microgrid will be made up of between three and five essential businesses located near one another, such as medical clinics, pharmacies, supermarkets, and bakeries.

“This project represents much more than energy infrastructure; it is a resilience tool for our communities. When prolonged outages occur, these businesses and community centers are the ones that sustain people’s daily lives,” said Shirley Montalvo, Community Coordinator of Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña.

In total, the project includes the installation of 10 community microgrids, with an aggregate capacity of 875 kilowatts of solar generation and 1.85 megawatt-hours of storage. Each microgrid will be made up of between three and five essential businesses located near one another, such as medical clinics, pharmacies, supermarkets, and bakeries.

A New Financing Model for the Third Sector

The initiative marks a concrete step in the new financing line that Bravo Family Foundation had recently announced, aimed at supporting nonprofit organizations through mechanisms other than traditional donations.

“The objective of this initiative is to support other nonprofit organizations and communities in Puerto Rico through entities with a proven track record of service and community impact, using financing under conditions they had not previously been able to obtain through other market mechanisms,” said Blanca Santos, CEO & CFO of Bravo Family Foundation.

Santos explained that this approach responds to a transformation in the Foundation’s way of practicing philanthropy.

“We are moving toward a new way of doing philanthropy: strategic, entrepreneurial, and focused on scaling solutions that already work. Our goal is clear: to support social impact initiatives that generate measurable impact and are financially sustainable,” she added.

From Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña’s perspective, the agreement was described as a key element in making the project viable and strengthening the cooperative model.

“Bravo Family Foundation’s support made it possible to close a critical gap and move forward with a project that strengthens the cooperative model, demonstrating that organized communities can lead sustainable energy solutions,” said José Massol, President of CHM’s Board of Directors.

Expansion of the ReEnFoCo Program

The project is part of Cooperativa Hidroeléctrica de la Montaña’s Community Photovoltaic Energy Resilience program, ReEnFoCo, which has already demonstrated its effectiveness in communities such as Castañer, where the installed microgrids made it possible to maintain electricity service before, during, and after Hurricane Fiona in 2022.

With this new phase, the program will expand to four municipalities in Puerto Rico’s Central Mountain Range, aligning community efforts with state and federal public policies focused on energy resilience and the security of essential services.

Read the article in Metro