Can Puerto Rico Overcome a Colonial Past to Build a Greener Grid?
On September 20, Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, destroying its electricity grid. The storm felled half of the cross-island transmission towers. Nine out of 10 back-alley power poles blew down. Every single customer on the island lost power. Amid the wreckage lies an opportunity for Puerto Rico to rebuild stronger and smarter. Tesla chief Elon Musk said his company power the island with solar and energy storage. “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," he tweeted.