This is a great inspirational story about how Tesla is helping out Puerto Rico to restore electricity at a Children’s hospital to fully run off of solar panels and backup battery storage…
But they are putting the panels in the parking lot. Where is everyone visiting the hospital going to park?
Solar panels began filling a parking lot outside a children’s hospital this week as Elon Musk’s first major solar-plus-storage project in Puerto Rico took shape, demonstrating how quickly solar microgrids can be established for long-term clean, resilient power.
It’s one small but telling step in a U.S. territory of 3.4 million people still largely in the dark five weeks after Hurricane Maria struck.
Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SolarCity, launched a conversation about bringing solar microgrids to the island a little over two weeks ago in a Twitter exchange with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello. Musk suggested that pairing solar panels with battery systems had worked for other islands and could help Puerto Rico rebuild from the hurricane, too. Rossello’s quick response: Let’s talk.
“Hospital del Niño is the first of many solar+storage projects going live,” the tech company tweeted with photos on Tuesday. CBS correspondent David Begnaud, who is in Puerto Rico, reported that the installation would generate enough energy to power the hospital during the day and store 500 kilowatt-hours of energy for power at night.
Tesla has declined to provide details about its plans in Puerto Rico, saying only to watch for updates through its Twitter channels.