Dive Brief:
- Elon Musk tweeted Thursday that Tesla could rebuild Puerto Rico's decimated grid with solar-plus-storage systems, echoing a similar statement from earlier this year about Australia's grid challenges.
- Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello responded in a tweet, saying "let's talk" and touting the island as a possible flagship project to show off Tesla's battery prowess.
- Earlier this year, Musk said his company could solve Southern Australia's rolling blackouts in 100 days with his battery packs. The Australian government accepted his challenge.
Dive Insight:
Elon Musk is bent on showing off the prowess of Tesla's battery storage packs to solve hefty grid challenges. The company is already sending "hundreds" of storage packs to the island, along with other storage developers to aid power restoration efforts.
Hurricane Maria smashed into the island last month, virtually obliterating its power system and leaving 3.5 million residents in the dark. Nearly a month later, less than 10% of the grid is repaired and a good chunk of residents are without access to potable water.
Enter Elon Musk. In a Twitter response, he noted that Tesla has already built solar-plus-storage systems for "many smaller islands around the world," including a project on the Hawaii island of Kauai, one on an island in the American Samoa as well as North Carolina's Ocracoke island.
The Tesla team has done this for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too. Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 5, 2017
Gov. Rosello responded in another tweet, touting Puerto Rico as a flagship project for the company.
@elonMusk Let's talk. Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies? PR could be that flagship project. https://t.co/McnHKwisqc
— Ricardo Rossello (@ricardorossello) October 6, 2017
Hurricane Maria's aftermath, along with Hurricanes Irma and Harvey, sparked a conversation from the power sector over grid resilience in the face of devastating storms. Microgrids and solar-plus-storage are some of the solutions being tossed about.
According to Twitter, Rossello and Musk could begin discussions today.
Let’s talk today; I will be in touch. I have no doubt #Teslasolar will work w/#PuertoRico to globally showcase the power of its technology. https://t.co/wJcm9fCNVV
— Ricardo Rossello (@ricardorossello) October 6, 2017
