2017年9月20日,飓风ría visited Puerto Rico, bringing with it cataclysmic destruction unparalleled in the last 100 years. María’s winds left an already debilitated electrical grid totally useless. A Class 4 direct hit, the first in 90 years and the only direct hit in modern history.
The entire overhead aerial electric grid had come crashing to the ground after endless hours of 155 mph winds. Thousands of lattice work towers were destroyed or damaged and an estimated 50,000 poles were down and in need of replacement. There was no stock of materials to rebuild with. The lattice tower grid, built across the island’s mountains, had delivered power from generation in the south to the densely populated north and eastern shores. All the island’s power plants were severely damaged and most were completely or partially offline. The rudimentary preliminary restoration of service took the Corps of Engineers and thousands of local and stateside contractors, billions of dollars and a year to accomplish. Today, 99% of the population is back online, but hundreds of FEMA generators remain in service.
So now the island is now faced with the enormous task of building a resilient generation, transmission and distribution (T&D) system. That system will include decentralizing and privatizing power plants that will be dispersed around the island. Both large renewable energy and alternative energy micro grid P3’s will be built. These proposals will be a mixed bag of design/build and turnkey proposals.
It is estimated it will take $12 to $14 billion in federal funds and four to five years of work to rebuild the T&D systems. PREPA has hired stateside and local engineering firms who have conceptualized the new improved PREPA. It has been announced recently the T&D systems will be administered and maintained by a private sector administrator. That process is in the RFP stage. It's expected that the administrator will be in place next year.
好消息是，在两年内经历了四名执行董事之后，该岛的电力公司拥有一名新的领导者，从私营部门起草，并具有出色的往绩。波多黎各电力局（PrepA）的新首席执行官何塞·奥尔蒂兹（JoseOrtíz）有一段历史，它的历史是在其过去的基础设施建设中建立了自己的工作。
多个假装和提议者正在排队购买现有的过时的发电厂，其他人则建议在现有棕色领域和其他绿色领域的其他品种中建造所有新一代设施。政府已建立了由奥马尔·马雷罗（Omar Marrero）执导的扩展的P3促进机构，称为COR3。Marrero以及Prepa的Ortiz都是高效的公务员。他们作为管理员的技能将通过大火测试。中央政府的党派政治将给他们带来巨大的压力，要求他们雇用亲戚。但是，已经建立了联邦和地方监督委员会，以确保该计划保持关键。
On the T&D side, undergrounding large segments of transmission system around the new power generation facilities will be realized. More resilient overhead systems and a conversion to Rural Utility Service specifications will be in the plan. The RUS/USDA construction standards will create uniformity and make it easier to secure materials from stateside suppliers in the next emergency.
来自东北的民主政客正在游说州长的工会和工会承包商的大时间，并将其包括在重建的所有方面。岛政府与这些政治人物与这些政客的嘲弄是利用他们在国会中的影响力来获得越来越多的资金。陪审团仍在国会，CBDG，HUD，USACE，RUS，FWHA，EFL，FCC和其他人将到达以及在波多黎各有多少钱到来的联邦资金。这次争夺来自大型国家和跨国实体，他们正在积极游说以采取行动。在当地，我们争先恐后地确保对斯塔福德法案的遵守，以保护当地承包商。
最初的缓解措施完成后，美国国家承包商Cobra/Mammoth，Mastec和Foreman获得了开放式合同，以继续进行重建。Cobra正在为岛上的Vieques和Culebra市政当局设计设计微电网。Mastec和Foremen被授予合同，但迄今为止却很少使用或不使用。未来将看到T＆D的硬出价合同。
我们在AGCPR上发起了一项多管齐下的计划，以教育并吸引新的和现有的人才为我们的劳动力。我们还在本地层面和整个边界建立联盟，以满足我们看到的需求。我们正在教育精益建筑概念。我们仍然有信心PrepA和Core3将努力确保对斯塔福德法案的警惕和遵守，以最大程度地参与当地资源。我们对自己成为领导者的能力保持乐观，以建立更好，更具弹性的波多黎各。
Stephen Spears is president of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America.
