PHOTO: techcrunch.com
Thanks to Tesla, a children’s hospital in Puerto Rico finally has power again in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Since the hurricane, Puerto Rico’s entire power grid has been completely destroyed. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has offered to outfit Puerto Rico with solar power facilities that can store and generate power reserves, and so far, he’s been making good on his promise.
So far, they’ve made significant progress on a facility that runs off of a combination of solar cells and Tesla’s Powerpack commercial energy storage batteries. Not only can it generate power from the sun, but it can also store up a reserve that can be used to provide power through varying weather conditions, even when the sun isn’t out. The facility will power a nearby children’s hospital that has become a focal point for relief efforts.
Tesla wrote on Twitter that this is just the “first of many solar storage projects going live”.
He and his company discussed how they might help with Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery efforts with Governor Ricardo Rossello. They proposed turning the U.S. territory into a prototype for what Tesla’s solar technologies could do for the country, and, eventually the entire world. So far, Puerto Rico seems totally up for the idea.
Elon Musk himself has donated $250,000 of his own personal money to support relief efforts. He also postponed his electric semi truck reveal event in order to focus all of Tesla’s efforts on bringing power back to Puerto Rico. Before long, the lights will be back on in the island, and everything will be back to normal.
Thanks, Ol’ Musky!
