Elon Musk has big dreams for Puerto Rico. On Thursday, the Tesla chief executive said he would discuss building a high-tech solar grid for the island with Ricardo Rossello, Puerto Rico’s governor.
“Let’s talk,” Rossello tweeted at Musk.
“I would be happy to talk,” Musk replied. “Hopefully, Tesla can be helpful.”
While Musk’s idea doesn’t solve Puerto Rico’s current crisis — 90 percent of the island is still without power and many are having trouble getting clean water — it could set the island on the path to sustainable, renewable energy, which could reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels and ultimately bolster its economy. The proposal, in other words, makes a great deal of sense, even if you don’t think it’ll help right away.
Puerto Rico’s electric company had already been in shambles. In July, it basically filed for bankruptcy, saying it owed $9 billion and needed $4 billion more to revamp its aging power plants, the median of which is 40 years old.
That was before Maria struck. Now, in light of the damage to Puerto Rico’s electric grid, people like Musk are seeing the crisis as a chance for the island to move away from centralized, vulnerable electricity systems.
“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,” Musk posted on Thursday on Twitter.