Elon Musk Says Tesla Batteries Weren't Affected by Puerto Rico Blackout
More packs are coming to the island.
Puerto Rico received another blow Wednesday when a blackout hit the entire island, leaving millions in the dark once again. Elon Musk took to Twitter to say that the blackout hasn’t hit everywhere, and he intends to bring even more power to the island.
News of the power outage came from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Wednesday morning as reported by USA Today. The organization says it can take up to 36 hours to restore the power. In response to the news, Musk tweeted that locations using Tesla batteries still have power and more are on the way.
“Tesla batteries are currently live & delivering power at 662 locations in Puerto Rico,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “Team is working 24/7 to activate several hundred more.” The Tesla Twitter account also said in a tweet that more than 1,000 batteries are on the island.
Hurricane Maria destroyed Puerto Rico’s power grid when it hit the island last September. As companies attempted to bring the grid back online after the hurricane hit, the Telsa CEO offered to help restore power to communities as part of a “flagship project” for the company. He said Tesla already did similar work on smaller islands. Batteries began shipping to Puerto Rico last October, and additional projects using the Tesla Powerpacks started in December. Each pack holds 210 kilowatt-hours, and it’s estimated that the total energy capacity for the island is 5,000 megawatts.
Power returned to some municipalities in Puerto Rico Wednesday afternoon. CNN reported 51,000 customers have power so far out of 1.4 million across the island.
Solar power solutions become more of a desirable option following the destruction left by Hurricane Maria. Outdated power grids like the one in Puerto Rico are becoming less reliable so Southern U.S. states such as Texas, Florida, and Louisiana, as well as the Caribbean islands, started to show more interest in solar energy.
