Dive Brief:
- The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority has signed a $500 million restoration and reconstruction contract with Florida-based infrastructure MasTec. It is the second large contract the bankrupt utility has recently finalized, and a third is in the works according to Associated Press.
- Last week, PREPA signed a one-year, $900 million deal with Oklahoma-based Cobra Acquisitions for restoration and rebuilding efforts after the island's grid was destroyed in September by Hurricane Maria.
- It has been eight months since the storm knocked out power, but as efforts move into long-term rebuilding, there are questions about who will pay.
Dive Insight:
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has so far reimbursed PREPA for most of the restoration costs from Hurricane Maria, but rebuilding, modernization and system hardening are also in progress.
"The source of where this money will be coming from remains unclear," Jorge Camacho, an IEEE consultant working with PREPA, told Utility Dive.
Despite the uncertainty, the utility has signed $1.4 billion worth of contracts in the last two weeks and a third is being finalized. The recent contract with Cobra is in addition to a $945 million contract it finalized in February of this year, which FEMA will reimburse.
MasTec issued a statement Monday announcing its contract to "complete the restoration of the critical electrical transmission and distribution system components damaged as a result of Hurricane Maria as well as to support the initial phase of reconstruction and modernization of the electrical power system in Puerto Rico."
The one-year contract will begin once MasTec mobilizes a crew and equipment to the island. CEO José Mas said in a statement that the company has worked in Puerto Rico before, "including storm restoration efforts completed early this year by our power line and telecom teams."
