We’ve seen tech giant Mark Zuckerberg get creative when it comes to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico and it looks another mogul is doing some impressive work to get devastated areas back on their feet.
After Hurricane Maria hit the Island of Puerto Rico, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stated that Tesla’s solar team could outfit the island with power facilities that could be used to provide the island with electricity when the existing grid is not available.
It has only been one month and we have now seen that he has come through on what sounds like a huge project, considering the damage done. Tesla has indeed gotten its first power facility running. Not only that, but the facility has its first hospital powered up with it.
The solar and storage space will power Hospital del Niño using a combination of solar cells and Tesla’s Powerpack commercial energy storage batteries. With the ability to pull and store energy through any weather conditions, regardless of actual sun visibility, these units will be essential in getting Puerto Rico power in the wake of this disaster as well as keep the island running if another catastrophe hits.
Through its Twitter account, Tesla stated that this was just one of the “first of many solar+storage projects going live,” after discussions were had between Tesla and Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello regarding how the company could assist in recovery efforts.
This discussion came after an exchange made on Twitter between Musk and the Governor concerning the state of the island after the hurricane. In fact, after going through the first portion of this project, Rossello and Puerto Rican Chief Innovation Officer Glorimar Ripoli have proposed to turn the territory into an example of how Tesla’s solar innovation can impact the world.
Tesla has been shipping its own home Powerwall battery storage units to the island to aid in building the power stores and Musk himself has donated $250,000 of his own money to the relief efforts.
Tesla has even put off the release of their electric semi truck in November with intentions to continue pursuing and building more power facilities throughout the Puerto Rico.
We will see how this project progresses as it attempts to get power to the whole island and fulfill the Puerto Rican government’s wishes to become a model nation for this technology. Hopefully we continue to see innovators and financial giants follow Tesla’s lead by lending their services and resources to restore this beautiful island to what it can and should be.
