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Fundación Borincana

We are a nonprofit undertaking individual, institutional, and structural development that government and the private sector are unable or unwilling to address - doing those necessary with a focus on impact - engaging in economic and community development of energy infrastructure, unblocking markets, and unlocking investment to assist Puerto Rico and our planet realize its potential.

Our Story

The Fundación Borincana (or Borincana Foundation) was formed in July of 2018 as a not-for-profit with a focus on enabling and accelerating the energy transformation of Puerto Rico for the benefit of its people and the people of the world.

Our name is derived from the native Taino term for the island - Borinquen (citizens identify as "Boricua"), and was inspired by the acclaimed composition in Puerto Rico’s patriotic tradition, Lamento Borincano, released in 1929 to call attention to the economic precariousness that engulfed aspects of life on the island – not unlike the situation today.

Beginnings

Hurricanes Irma and Maria laid bare Puerto Rico’s most glaring weakness, its energy infrastructure. Virtually all modern social, economic, and political systems rely first and foremost on a robust and stable infrastructure. Lives and livelihoods were devastated and the rebuilding will take many years. But the devastation wrought by these storms, and the bankruptcy of the utility and the Commonwealth have paradoxically created fertile conditions for transformation and a globally unparalleled opportunity to build a first-of-its-kind distributed clean energy system.

We believe Puerto Rico is now and will be for years become the "sandbox" where clean and sustainable energy technologies, business practices, financial innovation, dynamic regulatory structure, and political will are all tested and refined to create the modern, resilient, distributed grid and energy infrastructure of the future. When it happens, lessons taken from Puerto Rico, will inform new technologies and practices that will be applied in the development of core infrastructure worldwide- for decades. Transformation is happening, and we intend to critically support this transformation.