Envocore tapped for Puerto Rico upgrade

Power Sustainable said on September 2 that its portfolio company Envocore had been selected for a major role in Puerto Rico’s water-meter modernization program, giving the engineering firm a place inside one of the island’s larger utility upgrade efforts. The work is tied to the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, or PRASA, and centers on replacing legacy meters with ultrasonic units and installing advanced metering infrastructure across the island. Power Sustainable described Envocore as a provider of energy-efficiency, water-infrastructure and utility-services solutions. The company said the award runs for five years and carries a value of $129 million. ### What exactly did Envocore win in Puerto Rico? PRASA’s program covers the replacement of about 1.5 million water meters and the deployment of advanced metering infrastructure endpoints across Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities, according to Power Sustainable and other reports on the award. Envocore said it will provide field deployment and program-management services for the island-wide rollout rather than simply supply equipment. (prnewswire.com) The September 2 announcement framed the assignment as part of a broader modernization push at the water utility. Power Sustainable said the work is intended to support stronger water-resource management and more reliable service, while Envocore positioned its role inside a wider package of resilience and operations improvements. (prnewswire.com) ### Why does a water-meter contract matter to an energy-and-utilities company? Envocore said in the announcement that its business spans energy-efficiency, water infrastructure and utility services, which helps explain why the company is involved in a water-system contract rather than a generation project. The company described the Puerto Rico assignment as work that combines utility-services execution with infrastructure upgrades on the ground. (prnewswire.com) Martin Aares, managing partner and co-head of Power Sustainable Decarbonization Private Equity, said the award showed Envocore could deliver “complex, essential infrastructure projects at scale.” Francis Wheeler, Envocore’s chief executive, said the company was “honoured to partner with PRASA” on the initiative. Those statements came from the company announcement and did not include a separate timeline for meter replacement by municipality. (prnewswire.com) ### What changes when utilities install advanced metering infrastructure? Advanced metering can give utilities more frequent consumption data and improve billing accuracy, according to the company statement. Power Sustainable also said the added data can help earlier leak detection and reduce avoidable water loss. (prnewswire.com) Underground Infrastructure, citing the program details, said the Puerto Rico effort pairs ultrasonic meters with AMI endpoints across the full PRASA footprint. That combination usually shifts utilities away from manual reads and toward networked monitoring, though PRASA’s detailed deployment schedule was not included in the materials reviewed. (prnewswire.com) ### Who are the companies behind the announcement? Power Sustainable identified Envocore as a portfolio company in its decarbonization-focused private equity business. Search results and republished versions of the announcement also described Power Sustainable as part of Power Corporation of Canada’s investment platform. (undergroundinfrastructure.com) The named utility counterparty is PRASA, Puerto Rico’s public water and sewer authority. In the materials reviewed, neither PRASA nor Puerto Rico’s government published additional contract terms beyond the program scope cited in the announcement and trade coverage. (powersustainable.com) ### What happens next in the program? The next step is execution across Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities. Envocore said it will handle field deployment and program management under the five-year, $129 million contract, while PRASA’s modernization program calls for about 1.5 million ultrasonic meter replacements and AMI endpoint installations island-wide. (prnewswire.com)