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By D谩nica Coto

The Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico 鈥� The U.S. government recently announced that $325 million in federal funding will be available for solar and battery storage installations across Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory struggles with聽chronic power outages.

The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, will target community centers and health care facilities, as well as common areas in subsidized, multifamily housing.

鈥淗ouseholds aren鈥檛 the only place you need power during and after an emergency,鈥� U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a visit to Puerto Rico.

The announcement comes amid widespread anger over outages that repeatedly leave Puerto Ricans in the dark. The island of 3.2 million people has a poverty rate exceeding 40 percent, and some cannot afford to purchase a generator.

Government officials say the outages also endanger the lives of those who depend on oxygen, refrigerated insulin and dialysis machines.

Granholm on July 18 visited the southern coastal town of Santa Isabel, one of several in the area hit in June by a power outage that left 10,000 customers in the dark.

That same month,聽another widespread outage聽left some 350,000 customers across Puerto Rico without power, prompting Gov. Pedro Pierluisi to order an investigation.

鈥淚t is unacceptable,鈥� Granholm said of the situation.

The outage in Santa Isabel and nearby towns prompted Luma, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power, to install emergency generators.

Luma also launched a $4 million effort to transport and install a new mega transformer in the area, but the plan failed after crews discovered that an 鈥渋nternal problem鈥� rendered the equipment unusable, further enraging customers and government officials.

Luma recently said it would relocate another transformer based in the southeastern coastal town of Maunabo, but the announcement angered the local mayor, who blocked access to the equipment, saying his town depended on it.

Luma has said that the transformer is not essential for provision of electricity to Maunabo.

Earlier this month, Luma warned that at least 11 transformers in electric substations across Puerto Rico are 鈥渧ulnerable,鈥� and if they were to fail, tens of thousands of customers would be left without power.

Puerto Rico鈥檚 power grid remains frail nearly seven years after聽Hurricane Maria聽pummeled the island as a Category 4 storm, leaving some residents without electricity for up to a year.

While the storm razed the power grid, it had long been crumbling given a lack of investment and maintenance by Puerto Rico鈥檚 Electric Power Authority, which is still trying to restructure more than $9 billion in debt.

Prior to Maria, renewable energy generation in Puerto Rico was at 3 percent. It has since grown to 9 percent thanks to installations of rooftop solar and storage by some homeowners and business owners, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

Amid the outages,聽Puerto Ricans have been hit with power bill increases聽that many have decried. Puerto Rico鈥檚 electricity rate is now 41 percent higher than the average U.S. rate.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy also announced an $861 million loan guarantee to help build two solar photovoltaic farms in the southern towns of Guayama and Salinas. The guarantee was offered to Clean Flexible Energy LLC, an indirect subsidiary of AES Corporation and TotalEnergies Holdings USA Inc.

Prior to arriving in Puerto Rico, Granholm visited the U.S. Virgin Islands, where officials announced $100 million in federal funding to assist purchases of fuel storage facilities. That U.S. territory also has struggled with chronic power outages in recent years, with island-wide outages hitting St. John and St. Thomas the day Granholm visited.

Nearly three months ago, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. declared a state of emergency following ongoing blackouts on St. Croix.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Water & Power Authority faces crumbling infrastructure, with various local agencies including the waste management authorities and entities such as hospitals owing more than $11 million in total accumulated debt.