Elon Musk Says He Can Fix Puerto Ricos Power Problem

Renewable energy and space entrepreneur Elon Musk says he can rebuild Puerto Rico’s power infrastructure with his solar power technology.

Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island within U.S. territory, was smashed by Hurricane Maria in September, and currently only 5 percent of the population has electricity.

The response from U.S. President Donald Trump has drawn plenty of criticism, and his administration has even apparently sought to conceal the extent of the suffering in Puerto Rico. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deleted statistics from its websites about the number of people without power and access to clean water, at the same time White House spokespeople have claimed that the relief efforts are a “good news story.”

Against this backdrop, Musk said on Twitter that his Tesla technology is already being used to power smaller islands, and that it would be possible to scale it up for Puerto Rico. The island’s governor Ricardo Rossello replied via the social network: “Let’s talk.”

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
The two then set up a time to talk the next day. Tesla has already reportedly sent hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to the island and engineers to help set them up. Musk himself is said to have donated $250,000 to the relief efforts. Tesla is perhaps most well known for its electric vehicles, but the SolarCity part of the company manufactures power banks that are capable of storing large amounts of electricity.

@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 Musk and his SolarCity arm of Tesla have offered to help out with power problems in major territories via Twitter. Back in March he made a bet he could fix South Australia’s power crisis in 100 days, saying he’d give the services for free if it took any longer. Work on that project began in late September.

About the author

Peter Ward

Tech Editor

Peter was born in Birmingham, England and was raised in North Wales. He studied journalism at the University of Sheffield before moving to Dubai, where he worked for several business magazines. After three years in the Middle East, Peter moved to New York to earn his master's degree in business journalism from Columbia University Journalism School. He has since written for international publications such as Bloomberg, The Economist and Newsweek. In his spare time Peter loves to play and watch soccer, go to the movies, read, and play video games.