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Showing posts with label solar power. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar power. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Puerto Rico News Digest For September 14, 2016


PR BEAUTY QUEEN HAS LAWSUIT DISMISSED





















From BBC:

"A Puerto Rican beauty queen has lost her bid to reclaim her tiara taken from
her for poor behaviour. A judge ruled that Kristhielee Caride had violated the
terms of her contract as the island's representative for Miss Universe. She had
refused to attend a designated hair salon, and failed to appear on a TV progra-
mme because she said the traffic was too bad. Ms Caride was seeking $3m (£
2.25m) in damages from the organisers. The week-long court case has gripped
Puerto Rico. TV stations interrupted regular programming to show proceedings
in court and her testimony..."


SJ MAYOR ASKS GDB TO RETURN FUNDS


From The San Juan Daily Star:

"San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto proposed to seek a reconsideration
from Judge Aileen Navas Auger on the retention of $17.1 million by the Go-
vernment Development Bank (GDB) from the municipality of San Juan, at the
same time reiterating Monday her determination to resist the federal Puerto Ri-
co Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA). “We are
going to ask for a reconsideration and then appeal,” the mayor told Inter News
Service (INS) about the multimillion-dollar retention of funds destined for ser-
vices for the residents of the capital city..."


BHATIA: PROMESA WON'T MEAN AXING GOV'T WORKERS


From Caribbean Business:

"Senate President Eduardo Bhatia said Tuesday that the Puerto Rico Oversight,
Management and Economic Stability Act (Promesa) “does not establish anywh-
ere” that government employees hired after May 4 or those who obtained their
permanent status after that date, could be let go, as previously stated by New Pro-
gressive Party (NPP) president and gubernatorial candidate Ricardo Rosselló. A-
ccording to the senatorial leader, the act establishes in Section 204 that the Fiscal
Management and Oversight Board created by Promesa could evaluate actions ta-
ken through legislation “that is contrary to the government’s ordinary course,” but
explained that in the case of permanent status granted to teachers, nurses and other
public employees who provide essential services, such cases fall under “ordinary
course” and hence do not have to be subject to employee dismissals..."


ISABELA SUN FARM STARTS PRODUCING ENERGY


From News Is My Business:

"Oriana Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Sonnedix Group, in partnership with Yaro-
tek, announced Tuesday it has commenced energization of the $160 million Oria-
na Solar Farm, a 45MW AC (58 MW) solar power plant in Isabela. With an inves-
tment in excess of $160 million, the construction of this renewable energy facility
created more than 1,000 direct jobs during construction, mostly residents of Isabe-
la and nearby communities..."



Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Puerto Rico News Digest For August 30, 2016


PERELLO RESIGNS AS HOUSE SPEAKER

















From Caribbean Business:

"Jaime Perelló resigned from his position as Speaker of the Puerto Rico House
of Representatives Monday afternoon. He announced his resignation in the Ca-
pitol rotunda next to an original text of the Puerto Rico Constitution...Perelló
left his position after meeting with 16 lawmakers at the Capitol to discuss a tr-
ial underway in federal court of three former House employees under his dire-
ct supervision who were charged in a pay-for-play scheme to benefit the form-
er speaker’s fundraiser, Anaudi Hernández. During the trial Monday, Hernán-
dez said he raised more than $60,000 in cash for Perelló as part of a pyramid
scheme organized by attorney Irvin Faccio in which he was required to raise
$75,000 for the House leader..."


PUIG HEADS TO US OPEN AFTER GOLD MEDAL


From Bloomberg:

"Tennis player Monica Puig, who won the commonwealth’s first Olympic gold
medal in Rio de Janeiro earlier this month, competes Monday in her first match
this year at the U.S. Open in Queens, New York. Puig’s Olympic victory comes
amid dire Puerto Rico headlines of escalating debt, a broke pension system, a Zi-
ka outbreak, and a 10-year economic recession. Thousands of cheering fans gree-
ted her at the airport in San Juan when she arrived on Aug. 20, a week after her
win..."


BERNABE: AGRICULTURAL REFORM "URGENT"


From The San Juan Daily Star:

"Working People’s Party (PPT by its Spanish acronym) Rafael Bernabe said
late last week that the destruction of the island’s agriculture has been one of the
greatest tragedies in Puerto Rico’s recent history. Speaking at a forum sponsored
by the Puerto Rico Agriculture Association during its annual assembly, Bernabe
laid out some of the PPT’s proposals for the agricultural sector. “It’s a scandal that
today we import 85 percent of our food and that with the ability to export much
more and having a much broader food industry, we don’t do the first, and we don’t
have the second,” he said, according to an Inter News Service report. He added that
the reconstruction of island agriculture, with an agro-ecological emphasis, “is an ur-
gent and crucial task...”


LIBERTY GOES SOLAR AT LUQUILLO HQ


From News Is My Business:

"Oak Leaf Solar X LLC, a Yarotek entity, has installed 2,444 solar panels at Li-
berty Puerto Rico’s facility in Luquillo, making the provider’s operations more
sustainable and “reaffirming the companies’ respective commitments to Puerto
Rico and the environment,” the company announced Monday. Liberty entered
into a long-term power purchase agreement to buy its solar power from Oak Le-
af Solar X, an independent power producer and developer focused on solar energy..."