Puerto Rico Calls Elon Musk to Help Rebuilt Their Grid/Disease Spreads
Puerto Rico Wants Elon Musk to Fix Their Grid
After sending hundreds of Tesla’s Powerwall batteries to help those in Puerto Rico still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Maria, Elon Musk may be tasked with an even more massive project on the island territory. Last Thursday Musk used Twitter to essentially offer his company’s services in re-building Puerto Rico’s power grid.
He stated that with the approval of the local government, public utilities, and all of those who call the island home, Tesla could emulate work it has done in other, similar geographies. This work includes a project completed last year by Tesla’s subsidiary SolarCity which encompassed the installation of a microgrid powered by renewable energy sources on the American Samoa island of Ta’u.
Musk’s outlook and optimism related to energy work is nothing new. He most recently stated that his company would provide a 100-megawatt battery farm in Southern Australia in 100 days, or it would be free. The $50-million project commenced on September 29.
Puerto Rico’s governor was quick to respond to Musk, insinuating that the island could serve as a flagship project for expanding Tesla’s methods of harvesting and storing solar power. It’s been reported that Puerto Rico’s infrastructure was in need of an upgrade before the onslaught of recent storms, so Tesla’s innovative approaches and the timing of the situation might be the perfect mix.
Helping to move the needle on this potential project are the environmental benefits of a solar-powered grid, as well as the ability to get things re-started more quickly in the event of a future storm. Less reliance on imported oil would also make the electric grid much cheaper to operate.
The most prominent obstacles are timing, expense, and scale. The island needs power now, and the project which Musk undertook on Ta’u required more than a year for an island that is roughly 1/200th the size of Puerto Rico. Then there are concerns over how expansive energy storage capabilities could be, as well as the magnitude of the costs associated with connecting to and distributing from a new kind of power source. ThomasNet
{SAN JUAN} Four deaths in Hurricane Maria's aftermath are being investigated as possible cases of a disease spread by animals' urine, Puerto Rico's governor said Wednesday amid concerns about islanders' exposure to contaminated water.
A total of 10 people have come down with suspected cases of leptospirosis, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said at a news conference.
On a U.S. territory where a third of customers remain without running water three weeks after the hurricane, some became ill after turning to local streams to relieve their thirst.
Jorge Antonio Sanyet Morales, a 61-year-old bus driver, took a drink from a stream near his concrete home on a hillside in Canovanas a week after the Sept. 20 storm. He then developed a fever, his skin turned yellow and within a week, he died at a hospital in Carolina, according to his widow, Maritza Rivera.
Dr. Juan Santiago said Sanyet was among five patients who came in his emergency clinic last week with similar symptoms after drinking from streams in Canovanas and Loiza.
The water was still not running at Sanyet's house this week, but Rivera, said she and her family were drinking only bottled water, including some delivered by the town. Her husband was the only one who drank from the stream, she said.
Forty-five deaths in Puerto Rico have been blamed on Hurricane Maria, which tore across the island with 150 mph (240 kph) winds. Ninety percent of the island is still without power and the government says it hopes to have electricity restored completely by March.
Leptospirosis is not uncommon in the tropics, particularly after heavy rains or floods. Rossello said the symptoms can be confused with those of other illnesses, including dengue, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was helping to investigate. Two of the deaths were in Bayamon, and one each in Carolina and Mayaguez. Other patients have been receiving treatment with antibiotics.
Rossello said that fliers with instructions on how to disinfect water will be sent to mayors for distribution with food supplies in towns across Puerto Rico.
"For people that have access to internet and have access to printers, be good citizens and help us distribute this information," Rossello said.
The Health Department and the U.S. military also will be distributing pills to purify water, he said.
AP
A total of 10 people have come down with suspected cases of leptospirosis, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said at a news conference.
On a U.S. territory where a third of customers remain without running water three weeks after the hurricane, some became ill after turning to local streams to relieve their thirst.
Jorge Antonio Sanyet Morales, a 61-year-old bus driver, took a drink from a stream near his concrete home on a hillside in Canovanas a week after the Sept. 20 storm. He then developed a fever, his skin turned yellow and within a week, he died at a hospital in Carolina, according to his widow, Maritza Rivera.
Dr. Juan Santiago said Sanyet was among five patients who came in his emergency clinic last week with similar symptoms after drinking from streams in Canovanas and Loiza.
The water was still not running at Sanyet's house this week, but Rivera, said she and her family were drinking only bottled water, including some delivered by the town. Her husband was the only one who drank from the stream, she said.
Forty-five deaths in Puerto Rico have been blamed on Hurricane Maria, which tore across the island with 150 mph (240 kph) winds. Ninety percent of the island is still without power and the government says it hopes to have electricity restored completely by March.
Leptospirosis is not uncommon in the tropics, particularly after heavy rains or floods. Rossello said the symptoms can be confused with those of other illnesses, including dengue, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was helping to investigate. Two of the deaths were in Bayamon, and one each in Carolina and Mayaguez. Other patients have been receiving treatment with antibiotics.
Rossello said that fliers with instructions on how to disinfect water will be sent to mayors for distribution with food supplies in towns across Puerto Rico.
"For people that have access to internet and have access to printers, be good citizens and help us distribute this information," Rossello said.
The Health Department and the U.S. military also will be distributing pills to purify water, he said.
AP
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