Sénat : Esencia défend l’autosuffisance hydrique et électrique

On September 1, 2026, the Senate Committee on Innovation, Reform and Appointments — chaired by Thomas Rivera Schatz — held the second public hearing of the joint inquiry under Senate Resolutions 9 and 459 on the tourism-residential project Esencia in Cabo Rojo. Roberto Ruiz Vargas appeared for Cabo Rojo Land Acquisition, LLC (CRLA) and Three Rules Capital, LLC. This note anchors the Senate release that day; it invents no later endorsements.

Proponents said Esencia would operate without interconnection to AAA or PREPA/LUMA networks, and that independence is part of conditions in approvals obtained. On water, Ruiz described private wells, reverse osmosis, reuse and rain capture — with desalination contingency — and rejected financing Betances plant expansion. On power, he projected an islanded microgrid (solar, batteries and emergency generators) that would not draw from the public grid; any future interconnection would only inject surplus, per the Senate-cited record.

Ruiz put Puerto Rico investment at about $2.5 billion in private capital and water demand near 1.5 million gallons per day versus regional capacity (historic USGS data) of about 10 million gpd — deponent estimates, not audited here. Rivera Schatz warned that if record estimates fail, “you would have a viability problem”; Ruiz accepted that everything is conditioned on proving own capacity. Alleged hearing self-sufficiency ≠ DNER extraction franchise; conditioned location consultation ≠ free building permit.

Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago questioned use of 1990s federal hydrogeology data; Sen. Eliezer Molina Pérez pressed for precision on caves and flows. Ruiz denied building over the cavern and asserted a protection radius. A maritime-terrestrial zone case remains live, he acknowledged. Primary: Senate 1 Sep 2026.

Source: Senado de Puerto Rico. https://senado.pr.gov/senado-celebra-segunda-vista-pblica-para-examinar-la-viabilidad-y-autosuficiencia-del-proyecto-esencia-en-cabo-rojo