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PuertoRico-Feature

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

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'south hard even to go diesel to individual homes and so people tin can utilize generators. 74% of the island is still without power, and the hospitals are staggering. Surgeries are being performed under cell phone flashlights. Only at one facility — the Hospital del Niño — power has been reestablished courtesy of Elon Musk. Tesla has installed a 500kW battery chapters with plenty solar panels to continue the array charged. Puerto Rico is typically considered an splendid candidate for solar power, with its high number of sunny days and  near-equatorial location.

Elon Musk fabricated contact with the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, via Twitter. (Policy over Twitter, diplomacy over Twitter, humanitarian assistance negotiation over Twitter — sure does seem like a happenin' joint these days. Maybe I demand to quit yelling at people to get off my lawn and go read some 140-character witticisms.) And the comments of Musk and Rossello (PR governor) are, if non exactly brimming with mirth, certainly forward-looking.

Across the piece of work that Tesla is doing, Elon Musk donated a quarter million dollars of his own personal money to relief efforts in Puerto Rico. The Powerpacks are themselves on loan for costless during the crisis, and afterwards, a deal could make that donation permanent. The Powerpacks can serve as filigree storage during Puerto Rico's transitional period here. They're fabricated of the same 18650 cells that comprise the iconic Tesla "skate." (the apartment battery pack on vehicles similar the Model S).

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'due south electricity costs were higher than any US state relieve 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', information technology'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 go. Underground lines seem like a pretty solid idea, but only a few survived Hurricane Maria

Merely focusing solely on that metric misses some of the point. It is extremely difficult to build infrastructure that can withstand betoken-blank hits from maximally powerful storms. Deploying batteries and microgrids for local solar, however, still offers a potentially ameliorate outcome than relying solely on diesel fuel. With a microgrid system, there'south 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, it's undoubtedly easier than trying to disassemble a conventional power plant and stuff information technology in a secure location.

Despite the feel-skillful nature of this story — and I'thousand genuinely glad to see Elon Musk helping out — the blackout in Puerto Rico is now the worst in U.s. history. Rossello has said he wants to rewire the U.s.a. territory by Christmas, just other estimates have stated it could take another six months to stop the job. It's shameful to get out the land in this condition, given that its people are full United states citizens who have no elected representatives with voting rights in the House or Senate. Meanwhile, the island is and so badly poor, most of its residents literally tin't beget to motion to the mainland US. Information technology's an ugly situation that's not improving well-nigh as quickly as the Puerto Ricans themselves deserve.