Climate Action in Islanded Jurisdictions: A Comparative Case Study of Renewable Portfolio Standards in Puerto Rico and Hawaii

Renewable Portfolio Standards are popular climate mitigation policies that subnational jurisdictions use to transition their electricity portfolios to renewable sources by a set year. Puerto Rico and Hawaii have both adopted such laws. The US federal government partnered with both jurisdictions to complete feasibility studies and determined that it is technologically feasible for each to achieve their goals, and that was followed by significant investment for achieving it. Both jurisdictions are island communities with similar climates, renewable energy potentials, and historical reliance on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation. This paper explores the impact of political status, a key difference between the two, on the feasibility of achieving an RPS. While Hawaii has the full sovereignty of a US state, Puerto Rico has less autonomy as a US territory. The impact of this difference is demonstrated through the example in Puerto Rico of the Congressionally-created Financial Oversight and Management Board vetoing key legislation passed by Puerto Rico to achieve its goals. It is shown that Puerto Rico's status as a territory adds hurdles to the existing technical challenges, above and beyond what Hawaii faces as a state, hindering Puerto Rico's ability to achieve its goals. • A jurisdiction's political status strongly impacts adoption of renewables. • Federal oversight of PR as a territory limited its pace of transition to renewables. • PR's aging power infrastructure caused challenges toward transition to renewables.