To Puerto Rico: Forget the Grid
Begin not with inventing, but with forgetting. You must let go of what you've learned … - Govindarajan & Trimble in Reverse Innovation, 2012 .
Puerto
Rico may be ready to forget about their old, rickety power grid and embrace the
future. Elon Musk has offered the vision of a future with distributed,
renewable energy, using Tesla batteries and solar panels.
At least one official
of the island is interested.
Huffington Post reports that Governor Ricardo Rossello has responded to Musk’s offer, tweeting “Let’s
talk”.
Puerto
Rico has the advantage of a complete wipe out of their power grid. This blank
slate creates an opportunity to build something different and better-- if only
the leaders and people of the island can forget the central power grid, and resist
calls to resurrect the old system with “stronger poles and wires” (Mark Mills, WSJ,
Oct 6, 2017). --if only they can focus, instead, on the vision of a distributed,
renewable energy system.
Tesla
and German microgrid maker, Sonnen GmbH, have already stepped into the void.
Tesla has sent hundreds of power wall battery systems and accompanying solar
panels.
Bloomberg
reports German Micro grid maker, Sonnen GmbH has donated small scale
(microgrid) systems, combining solar panels and batteries, to 15 relief centers.
In addition, the company has said they will donate profits from sales of their systems
to build more.
Houston-based
Sunnova, Inc., Puerto Rico’s largest rooftop solar provider, is also ready to
help create a transformation in the power system.
If
Puerto Rico can nurture these seeds of change, they have the chance to become a
model distributed, renewable energy system.
Puerto
Rico is now an excellent incubator for innovation precisely because they do not
have a working established power grid. If only they can forget the past
and embrace the vision of a different future that is being offered.
I
do not want to minimize the suffering of the people of Puerto Rico, nor the difficulty
of their road to recovery. But I can’t help but be excited about the opportunity
for this part of the USA to take the lead and create an energy system that may
become the envy of the rest of us.
Trudy
Heller, Ph.D.
October
6, 2017
