As Tesla continues to aid hurricane-battered Puerto Rico in relief efforts, CEO Elon Musk responded to a tweet which suggested that Tesla could fortify the island’s electricity grid using solar and battery packs.
“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.” said Musk, in reference to Tesla’s involvement in off-grid energy solutions using the company’s commercial Powerpack battery system and solar panels. “Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR.” adds Musk.
In response, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello seemingly expressed interest in Tesla’s Energy solution, taking to twitter early Friday to say, “Let’s talk today. Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies?” Rosello added that Puerto Rico could be Tesla’s flagship project.
@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
This isn’t the first time government interests in solving local energy crises turned to Tesla’s scalable battery and solar solution. Tesla recently held an event near Jamestown, Australia where the California-based technology company is building the world’s largest lithium-ion battery system to help the country’s energy grid with back up power and provide renewable energy to more than 30,000 homes in the region.
“That is what the future will look like,” said Musk at the Powerpack Celebration event on September 29. “The faster we get there, the better.” The project consists of a 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack System that’s paired to a wind farm by global renewable energy provider Neoen.
As Puerto Rico continues to recover from a series of massive storms, most notably Hurricane Maria which left the majority of the U.S. territory’s residents without power for months, the outreach to Tesla can be seen as a first step to rebuilding and transforming the region’s electricity grid that has largely been sustained on imported oil with renewable energy.
