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PuertoRico-Feature

Although the infrastructure crunch in Puerto Rico is an ongoing humanitarian disaster, there is a bright spot in news from the beleaguered island. Tesla is swooping in with Powerpacks and solar panels to aid re-establish Puerto Rico's power grid, starting with a major children's infirmary.

When Hurricane Irma made landfall on Puerto Rico, some of the strongest eyewall winds made a "direct hit" on key power infrastructure. The island was already heavily reliant on diesel plants for ability generation; now that so many roads have been washed out, it'due south hard fifty-fifty to get diesel to individual homes then people can utilise generators. 74% of the island is all the same without ability, and the hospitals are staggering. Surgeries are being performed under cell phone flashlights. Just at one facility — the Hospital del Niño — power has been reestablished courtesy of Elon Musk. Tesla has installed a 500kW bombardment capacity with enough solar panels to keep the array charged. Puerto Rico is typically considered an fantabulous candidate for solar power, with its high number of sunny days and  most-equatorial location.

Elon Musk made contact with the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, via Twitter. (Policy over Twitter, diplomacy over Twitter, humanitarian assist negotiation over Twitter — sure does seem like a happenin' joint these days. Maybe I need to quit yelling at people to get off my lawn and get read some 140-character witticisms.) And the comments of Musk and Rossello (PR governor) are, if not exactly brimming with mirth, certainly forward-looking.

Beyond the work that Tesla is doing, Elon Musk donated a quarter million dollars of his ain personal money to relief efforts in Puerto Rico. The Powerpacks are themselves on loan for free during the crisis, and subsequently, a deal could make that donation permanent. The Powerpacks can serve as grid storage during Puerto Rico's transitional period here. They're made of the same 18650 cells that contain the iconic Tesla "skate." (the apartment battery pack on vehicles like the Model Due south).

Renewable power makes good sense for remote locations like Puerto Rico, where all fuel has to be brought in by cargo ship. The US territory'south electricity costs were higher than any US state salvage Hawaii before Hurricane Maria, and Puerto Rico is much, much poorer than Hawaii.

Wind shear completely destroyed the power lines on Puerto Rico. As the venerable climatologist Ron White explains, "it's not /that/ the current of air is blowin', it'south /what/ the air current is blowin'." Debris toppled electrical towers and severed lines, while floods and surf washed out roads and destroyed bridges. The unpleasant reality is that Puerto Rico is in a place where hurricanes get. Surreptitious lines seem like a pretty solid idea, but just a few survived Hurricane Maria

But focusing solely on that metric misses some of the signal. Information technology is extremely hard to build infrastructure that can withstand point-blank hits from maximally powerful storms. Deploying batteries and microgrids for local solar, however, still offers a potentially better outcome than relying solely on diesel fuel. With a microgrid organisation, there's at least a chance that some of your solar panels or infrastructure might survive, particularly if steps are taken to make it easier to disassemble panels and move them into secure storage. While that kind of solution presents its own logistical challenge, information technology'south undoubtedly easier than trying to disassemble a conventional power plant and stuff it in a secure location.

Despite the feel-skilful nature of this story — and I'm genuinely glad to see Elon Musk helping out — the coma in Puerto Rico is now the worst in US history. Rossello has said he wants to rewire the US territory past Christmas, only other estimates have stated it could take some other six months to cease the task. It's shameful to leave the land in this status, given that its people are full Us citizens who have no elected representatives with voting rights in the Business firm or Senate. Meanwhile, the island is so badly poor, nigh of its residents literally can't afford to move to the mainland US. It's an ugly situation that's not improving nearly as quickly equally the Puerto Ricans themselves deserve.