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Elon Musk Says Tesla Could Rebuild Puerto Rico's Power Grid With Batteries, Solar (electrek.co)
After Puerto Rico was hit by hurricane Maria, Tesla quickly started shipping hundreds of its Powerwall batteries there to try and get power back on to some houses with solar arrays. Now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to say that Tesla could rebuild Puerto Rico's power grid with batteries and solar on a bigger scale. Electrek reports: Puerto Rico's electricity rates were already quite high at around $0.20 per kWh and reliant on fossil fuels. After it was pointed out that Puerto Rico's destroyed grid is an opportunity to build a better one, Musk wrote on Twitter: "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 Puerto Rico government, PUC (Public Utilities Commission), any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of Puerto Rico."
Musk is referring to solar and battery projects that Tesla recently deployed on other islands, like Tesla's visually stunning Powerpack and solar project in Kauai. Those projects power grids for much smaller populations, but Musk has always said that it's scalable to support much larger islands, like Puerto Rico, and ultimately entire continents, which are just like big islands to a certain degree. The thing is that those systems are still reliant on power lines for larger communities and devices, like solar panels and wind turbines, that are still subject to problems with natural disasters. The advantage of Tesla's solution is that it has the potential to be distributed, which increases the odds of at least some systems staying online or bringing some back online quicker.
Musk is referring to solar and battery projects that Tesla recently deployed on other islands, like Tesla's visually stunning Powerpack and solar project in Kauai. Those projects power grids for much smaller populations, but Musk has always said that it's scalable to support much larger islands, like Puerto Rico, and ultimately entire continents, which are just like big islands to a certain degree. The thing is that those systems are still reliant on power lines for larger communities and devices, like solar panels and wind turbines, that are still subject to problems with natural disasters. The advantage of Tesla's solution is that it has the potential to be distributed, which increases the odds of at least some systems staying online or bringing some back online quicker.
As far as I know currently available lithium batteries still wear out after 1,000 cycles and slightly more for LiFePo4. There have been lots of breakthroughs but nothing for mass production. So if they go for this they'll have to buy a massive pile of new batteries every 5 years or so? Doesn't seem like a great solution
1) Despite the name, there just isn't that much lithium in a lithium-ion battery - and thus battery manufacturers can pay significantly more and not profoundly affect battery prices.
2) "Reserves" figures are based on a given A) exploration level, B) production tech level, and C) market price point. A) has historically been low, B) hasn't had reason to advance much, and C)... well, see point #1.
3) Growth in reserves with respect to 2A is roughly linear, while it's exponential with respect to 2B and 2C.
As an example of extremes: there's approximately 2,4e17 kilograms of lithium in Earth's oceans. Yes, producing from seawater with current tech (see 2B) costs a few times more than producing from land-based lithium sources per kilogram, so it's not commercially done. But battery manufacturers certainly can afford to pay those prices. And because of that, it's essentially impossible for them to run out of lithium. There can be temporary shortfalls due to production scaleups, but no long-term barriers.
(Not that they would go straight to seawater lithium; there's lots of land-based sources far larger than current "reserves" that would be turned to first)
"If there was an antonym to 'Elon Musk', it would be 'Richard Branson'."
Bermuda can take a direct hit and keep on truckin'. Hurricanes are very powerful, but it's still possible to design around them. They are certainly easier to cope with than large earthquakes, and you get a lot more warning.
What the island needs is wind farms. The trade winds are quite strong and blow almost constantly. They would also take up far less land than solar farms.
I...wouldn't exactly...want to be Puerto Rico trying to float the bonds required
It will take a massive debt write off for Puerto Rico to be in any position to float any new bonds for infrastructure. At least not unless they link those bonds to specific project revenue and under some separate new authority.
It would be better for Tesla to propose private projects on specific parcels of private land, using private financing and only interact with the government for necessary permitting and coordination of the rebuilding of the grid along public right of ways.
Puerto Rico is part of the United States, the richest countries in the world.
Maybe... if you look at median wealth per adult we are 13th in the world right behind Spain. Or in 2014 it looks like the median wealth put the US at 25 right between Greece and Slovenia at $53,352. These numbers are tricky, but the US has a lot of wealth... concentrated in certain areas and in certain segments of the population, but there are many smaller countries that on average have much more wealth per person.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
to the extent that the US is an effective single market for internal trade there is a lot of opportunity, but the US is more like 15 wealthy countries (states) combined with 35 other countries and some territories that aren't so wealthy. Though in some ways the EU has more of a single market than the US with many US states having effectively set up layers of protectionist laws and regulations to protect local businesses against interstate trade and commerce.
Nice thought, but their is not just down, but wiped out. Not only is the wiring on the ground, but many of the cheap poles we're knocked over. Otoh, if they start fresh, put in a single high voltage line down the middle and then divide into say 4 grids, each with their own batteries, solar, they can then have redunacy in their system.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Part of the treaties that formally attached Puerto Rico to the US requires a vote every 10 years as to whether or not they want to 1) stay how they are, 2) become a state, 3) seek independence.
The last vote was in June. Become a state got 97% of the vote.
However, anything but option 1 requires Congress to do something. And I really don't think the current Republican Congress is interested in adding some safe Democratic seats to Congress.
and ocean transportation
Say hello to the Jones Act
Shipping to and from Puerto Rico is actually extremely expensive, because shipping companies avoid putting US flags on their ships.