sustainability.hapres.com Article Solving Problems like Maria: A Case Study and Review of Collaborative Hurricane-Resilient Solar Energy and Autogestión in Puerto Rico David Krantz 1,2,3 1 College of Global Futures, School of Sustainability, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA; Email:
[email protected] 2 Center for Energy & Society, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, College of Global Futures, Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA 3 Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies Engineering Research Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA ABSTRACT After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico experienced the second-largest blackout in modern history, with parts of the island left without power for up to 18 months. Because the problems of Maria are multifold, this case study and review presents the historical, political, social, economic and cultural context of Puerto Rico, including a review of post-Maria solar interventions, along with two novel unconventional hybrid approaches to solving the problems of Maria: (i) Solar de Autogestión, a solar-energy racking that permits panel removal and storage in advance of a storm’s arrival and reinstallation after the storm passes—a system that was developed through (ii) collaboratory-action parachuting, a novel community-interaction method developed as an oral history-based applied-scholarship hybrid of conventional parachuting research and community-based participatory research. This paper finds that addressing the problems of Maria involves understanding the holistic context of a place and its people; working in partnership with communities to form collaborations; and providing disaster response, addressing climate change, and expressing allyship and solidarity with Open Access communities through hurricane-resilient solar energy to help create Received: 10 June 2020 energy citizenship and an energy community.