There is a weird story about Puerto Rico and its electrical grid woes making the rounds at this moment. From my perspective, there is a clear connection between our mission to support humanity during a climate disaster and our mission to fight climate change.”īlake Richetta, head of sonnen in the US, says “Our smart energy storage system is uniquely positioned to serve as a critical resource during the emergency in Puerto Rico, as it is a fully integrated system with all the components needed to form a true microgrid without requiring an initial grid connection.” That’s especially relevant as there is no grid left to connect to. “What is happening in Puerto Rico is a tragedy and as fellow human beings, it is our duty to stand firmly with the people of Puerto Rico and do everything possible to help start the rebuilding process. It is what we believe in and it is what drives us every day,” says Christoph Ostermann, sonnen’s founder. “Clean and affordable energy for all is the mission of our company. Sonnen, which already has experience building more than 21,000 microgrids of all sizes around the world, is also pushing forward with plans to bring its technology to the beleaguered island. Grateful to support the recovery of Puerto Rico with /JfAu11UBYgĮlon Musk has contributed $250,000 of his own money to relief efforts for the island and moved the reveal of the Tesla Semi back a month so Tesla employees can concentrate on building battery storage units for the island. Hospital del Niño is first of many solar+storage projects going live. The governor and Glorimar Ripoli, chief innovation officer for the island, want to make Puerto Rico a model of what Tesla solar power and grid storage systems can do for the world.
#Elon musk puerto rico micro grids series
The company tweeted it is just the “first of many solar+storage projects going live.” Tesla has discussed how it can help with Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery efforts with Governor Ricardo Rossello in a series of Twitter messages. Tesla has rushed an entire system of solar panels and Powerpack battery storage units to the island to provide local power to the Hospital del Niño in San Juan. Tesla and sonnen are not waiting around for negotiations to proceed and contracts to get signed. Congress on October 24 approved a $34 billion emergency aid package for the island. He thinks FEMA funds could be used to pay for the work. Manuel Laboy, Puerto Rico’s secretary of economic development and commerce, told Bloomberg in a telephone interview this week that the government is considering partnerships with a number of solar energy companies, including Tesla, sonnen, Arensis, and Sunnova to replace the island’s decrepit utility grid with solar powered microgrids. In a modern, distributed grid, a series of microgrids are connected to each other, but if one goes out, the others keep right on doing what they are designed to do, which is provide electricity to local customers. Think of the existing Puerto Rico grid (and most other conventional grids) as a string of old-fashioned Christmas tree lights - when one goes out, they all go out. Rather than the entire island depending on a conventional grid, the microgrids would be self sufficient in the event of an emergency. The island is considered an ideal candidate for a more distributed grid arrangement, with many small solar power plants feeding local microgrids fortified with battery storage to keep the electricity flowing after dark. That means the island’s grid has to rely on high-tension transmission lines that traverse Puerto Rico’s mountainous interior. Most of the island’s generating facilities, which use diesel generators, are located in the southern part of the island, while most of the demand is in and around the city of San Juan in the north. Two of the world leaders in solar power and microgrids - Tesla and sonnen - are making heroic efforts to provide power to hospitals and other critical facilities.Ī big part of Puerto Rico’s troubles can be traced to the economic woes of PREPA, its publicly owned utility company, which is more than $9 billion in debt. Most are also without access to clean water.
More than a month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico’s aging electric grid, 80% of people on the island are still without power.
0 kommentar(er)
