On March 27, 2025, the inaugural Puerto Rico Industrial Power Connect Conference will take place, organized by the Energy Intelligence Institute in partnership with CooperVision and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Southeast Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnership (TAP). 

The one-day event will convene experts, companies, and key suppliers to discuss the challenges of Puerto Rico’s industrial sector and explore new opportunities in distributed, also known as onsite energy, generation technologies such as combined heat and power, solar photovoltaics and battery or thermal storage.

Associate Director of Technical Services at the NC Clean Energy Technology Center and Director of the DOE Southeast Onsite Energy TAP, Isaac Panzarella, will be speaking with Dr. Pedro Quintero at the conference. Dr. Quintero, a professor of engineering at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, is a key team member of the DOE Southeast Onsite Energy TAP and leads engagement and assistance under the program in Puerto Rico.

Panzarella and Dr. Quintero will be co-presenting on the topic of supporting manufacturing competitiveness with onsite energy. Their presentation will focus on the potential for onsite energy to add reliable and efficient generation capacity to the grid, which is essential to Puerto Rico’s resiliency due to the number of storms that impact the island. Onsite energy provides many options to lower the cost of energy through generating energy at the point of use, typically through highly efficient combined heat and power (CHP), storage or renewables. Multinational companies that have to meet environmental standards can benefit from onsite energy, which will help them reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The DOE Southeast Onsite Energy TAP has worked with several manufacturers in Puerto Rico to evaluate onsite energy technologies. Panzarella explains that those evaluations have shown very favorable conditions for onsite energy investments at their facilities, including CHP, solar photovoltaics, battery storage, and heat pumps.

Photo Source: CooperVision

The conference will be held at CooperVision’s Puerto Rico manufacturing facility, which holds a LEED® Gold certification. The site has also been recognized with six awards by the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association (PRMA), for its commitment to sustainability and occupational health and safety. One of the awards was for CooperVision’s CHP project that began in 2020, following the destruction from Hurricane Maria in 2017. The plant was completed in 2022 and has since provided grid resiliency and the necessary power and chilled water for their operations.

Panzarella says, “This event is a really great opportunity for energy professionals in Puerto Rico’s manufacturing sector to come together with their peers and see what others are doing, as well as to get information on technical assistance opportunities.”

There will be two more events in the Puerto Rico Industrial Power Connect series that will be held at other facilities later this year. Onsite energy generation continues to be a valuable tool for manufacturers everywhere to support and power their facilities.