When Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, it devastated Puerto Rico’s electrical grid, triggering the longest blackout in U.S. history. The damage was catastrophic, and nearly a year passed before power was restored to some of the island’s most remote areas. On Puerto Rico’s western side, in a mountain town called Lares, Madeline Fernandini-Morales watched all of it unfold.

Madeline has been working in the solar energy industry since 2020. She was born and still lives in Lares, and she understands better than most what solar energy means for a place like Puerto Rico. “Solar energy is extremely important for Puerto Rico, especially in rural mountain communities,” she says. “It solves three critical problems — the high cost of electricity, the instability of the electrical grid, and dependence on imported fossil fuels.”

Madeline’s path into solar began with Bosque Modelo, a nonprofit that delivers solar training using SEI’s curriculum with a specific focus on bringing women into the industry. In 2025, she traveled to Colorado to take part in SEI’s Women’s Solar Electric Lab Week (Grid-Direct), a five-day hands-on installation course with an all-female cohort of instructors and participants. From there, she connected with Mujeres Solares, a women’s network in Puerto Rico that shares educational and professional opportunities across solar, to learn National Electrical Code standards and grid-direct PV system design through SEI’s FVOL202 course.

Scholarship support has been central to Madeline’s solar journey, making it possible to build skills without financial barriers, thanks to partners like the Honnold Foundation. “These kinds of opportunities enhance my employability and professional skills to better serve my country,” she says.

Her training reflects the work she is already doing in Puerto Rico. Madeline works with two organizations: a foundation supporting a micro-network of local merchants who provide community services, and a nonprofit that installs rooftop PV systems for low-income families. Both are focused on the same outcome: energy resilience for Puerto Ricans who can’t afford to go without it.

But she’s just getting started. Puerto Rico’s Energy Public Policy Act of 2017 sets a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050. And while government subsidy programs that once supported low-income solar access have since expired, Madeline sees that as a reason to push harder, not less. Her goal is to keep working in solar installation and add public education to her portfolio, helping communities understand not just how solar works, but why managing energy resources well matters.

For a place where hurricane season runs June through November, grid vulnerability is a reality every Puerto Rican lives with. Madeline is building toward a future where a storm doesn’t mean months without light, water, or communication. For her, that work is personal: “I am very grateful to the Honnold Foundation and Solar Energy International for the opportunity they gave me to learn, which allows me to become involved in the development of the solar industry and contribute to energy resilience and, therefore, to the well-being of my community and my country.”

Stories like Madeline’s are made possible by donors like you. Support SEI scholarships today.