Following the devastation that the U.S. territory suffered from the powerful Hurricane Maria, technology pioneer, Elon Musk, has offered to rebuild the power grid of Puerto Rico using solar technology.
The Tesla CEO made the casual remark on Twitter in answer to a question asking if he can rebuild the territory's electricity system. "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," Musk wrote. "Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR."
Consequently, Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo Rossello, caught wind of the statement and replied, telling Musk, "let's talk." He said that Puerto Rico could be the flagship project showing the world the "power and scalability" of Tesla technology.
Tesla recently acquired Solar City, another one of Musk's companies focused on manufacturing solar roofs and batteries. The venture is exploring ideas to scale up its power storage capabilities.
The company has built a solar power grid in the island of Ta'u in American Samoa. The system that Tesla installed there could power the entire island, while storing enough energy to sustain the whole island's demands for three days without any sun.
Residents of Puerto Rico who have previously invested in solar power are the few ones with a stable supply of electricity in the island. The majority of the island still remains without power after being hit by the powerful Hurricane Maria, save for a few.
This includes Hector Santiago, a flower grower in Puerto Rico. He invested $300,000 in solar energy six years ago. Now, he is reaping the rewards of a renewable and independent power system.
"Everybody told me I was crazy because it was so expensive. Now I have power and they don't," Santiago said.
