This morning the BBC reports that Elon Musk and the governor of Puerto Rico are discussing an offer from Tesla to create a series of solar-powered electric grids to power the island. This new system would use battery storage to provide power when the sun is not shining. Tesla has created such grids to provide all the power needed on several smaller islands, like Ta'u in American Samoa. Ta'u's 1.5 MW system was installed by Solar City and includes 60 Tesla Powerpacks capable of storing three days of power. Ta'u is very small, about 17 square miles, with a population of just 790. Puerto Rico is about 1/3 the size of Vermont with a population of over 3.5 million. This could be a great opportunity to prove the scalability of Tesla's systems. For more information about the Ta'u system, including a short video, check out this report from Wired.
|
About meI'm a professor of science working in the beautiful heart of rural Vermont. Archives
December 2017
Categories |