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Tesla Powerwalls and Solar Panels Sent to Puerto Rico

81 points by Caveman_Coder 9y ago

Caveman_Coder 9y ago
"Bloomberg reports that Tesla is sending hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to be paired with solar panels. The joint systems will help the battered island territory restore electric power." At least people won't have to wait for the PR electric grid, both the transmission and distribution systems, to be rebuilt. This should have a definite positive impact and hopefully save some lives.
myrandomcomment 9y ago
Wonderful. Very supportive. Would love an answer on timeline when I placed my $ down months ago for my new roof... before you say I am an asshole... I really am happy that they are doing this. I am big fan of Mr. Musk. and all of his vision and forward thinking. The idea that the human race has someone that has read The Culture and had the brains, money and ambition to try to sort for that helps give me faith that my children might have a good future. However would love to hear a bit more status updates from them for those that sign up and write checks. More communications would be rock star. The fact they did this came from HN and not feom Tesla saying hey guys... heck I would write a check for more if they setup a charity to help here.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Keep in mind that the energy storage products are built in Reno, NV and the solar tiles are produced in their Buffalo, NY solar gigafactory. Tesla still sells regular ol' solar panels, which is likely the product being deployed to Puerto Rico (not the tiles).
crb002 9y ago
The lack of mosquito nets is getting bad.
Theodores 9y ago
I presume they will be working with some officials to put these in to some key infrastructure, not handing them out to people who literally have nothing. So who gets them first and is there a key quantity needed to restore power to some sector of society? I think the trick is for people in areas hit by climate change to put these things in before rather than after the catastrophe, hopefully Peurto Rico can be better prepared for the next one. Powerwalls might become a key part of disaster recovery, if not the most important part.
- daenney 9y ago
  > I presume they will be working with some officials to put these in to some key infrastructure, not handing them out to people who literally have nothing You don't need to presume, it's stated in the article: The company has employees on the ground to install them and is working with local organizations to identify locations.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
jmadsen 9y ago
I know this is pretty much a silly thing to be saying & just wishful thinking on my part, but... Many places like large swaths of Africa and Asia skipped building much of the traditional landlines and went straight to cell phones. With so much of the electric grid literally wiped out, wouldn't it be cool to see them rebuild in a more future-looking fashion with many of the ideas around solar & community batteries, rather than a traditional grid? As I said, I know that's not terribly realistic...unless Elon wanted to have a laboratory and made some big donations to prove a point. It is the kind of thing he is known for, for reasons different than most people realize (unless you read that fascinating article about him from last year). Interesting to discuss, anyway, so go for it.
- Caveman_Coder 9y ago
  > "With so much of the electric grid literally wiped out, wouldn't it be cool to see them rebuild in a more future-looking fashion with many of the ideas around solar & community batteries, rather than a traditional grid?" I'd like to see a combination of both, a robust public T&D system with local distributed generation would be a great starting design in my opinion.
- rtkwe 9y ago
  A big problem is that the island is already under a large debt load and doesn't have a lot of financial tools that municipalities would normally use to get out from under debt.

81 points by Caveman_Coder 9y ago

"Bloomberg reports that Tesla is sending hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to be paired with solar panels. The joint systems will help the battered island territory restore electric power." At least people won't have to wait for the PR electric grid, both the transmission and distribution systems, to be rebuilt. This should have a definite positive impact and hopefully save some lives.

myrandomcomment 9y ago

Wonderful. Very supportive. Would love an answer on timeline when I placed my $ down months ago for my new roof... before you say I am an asshole... I really am happy that they are doing this. I am big fan of Mr. Musk. and all of his vision and forward thinking. The idea that the human race has someone that has read The Culture and had the brains, money and ambition to try to sort for that helps give me faith that my children might have a good future. However would love to hear a bit more status updates from them for those that sign up and write checks. More communications would be rock star. The fact they did this came from HN and not feom Tesla saying hey guys... heck I would write a check for more if they setup a charity to help here.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Keep in mind that the energy storage products are built in Reno, NV and the solar tiles are produced in their Buffalo, NY solar gigafactory. Tesla still sells regular ol' solar panels, which is likely the product being deployed to Puerto Rico (not the tiles).

crb002 9y ago

The lack of mosquito nets is getting bad.

Theodores 9y ago

I presume they will be working with some officials to put these in to some key infrastructure, not handing them out to people who literally have nothing. So who gets them first and is there a key quantity needed to restore power to some sector of society? I think the trick is for people in areas hit by climate change to put these things in before rather than after the catastrophe, hopefully Peurto Rico can be better prepared for the next one. Powerwalls might become a key part of disaster recovery, if not the most important part.

daenney 9y ago
> I presume they will be working with some officials to put these in to some key infrastructure, not handing them out to people who literally have nothing You don't need to presume, it's stated in the article: The company has employees on the ground to install them and is working with local organizations to identify locations.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

jmadsen 9y ago

I know this is pretty much a silly thing to be saying & just wishful thinking on my part, but... Many places like large swaths of Africa and Asia skipped building much of the traditional landlines and went straight to cell phones. With so much of the electric grid literally wiped out, wouldn't it be cool to see them rebuild in a more future-looking fashion with many of the ideas around solar & community batteries, rather than a traditional grid? As I said, I know that's not terribly realistic...unless Elon wanted to have a laboratory and made some big donations to prove a point. It is the kind of thing he is known for, for reasons different than most people realize (unless you read that fascinating article about him from last year). Interesting to discuss, anyway, so go for it.

Caveman_Coder 9y ago
> "With so much of the electric grid literally wiped out, wouldn't it be cool to see them rebuild in a more future-looking fashion with many of the ideas around solar & community batteries, rather than a traditional grid?" I'd like to see a combination of both, a robust public T&D system with local distributed generation would be a great starting design in my opinion.
rtkwe 9y ago
A big problem is that the island is already under a large debt load and doesn't have a lot of financial tools that municipalities would normally use to get out from under debt.