Elon Musk Could Help Puerto Rico Rebuild With Solar Power

Weeks after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico remains in desperate straits.

- Joel Hruska

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The island–which is an American territory and whose citizens are full citizens of the United States according to both Supreme Court rulings and acts of Congress–is still almost entirely without power. Virtually every aspect of disaster recovery, from medical treatment to home reconstruction, either requires or is made orders of magnitude easier by electricity. And Maria didn’t just wreck Puerto Rico’s generating stations; it destroyed the entire transmission grid.

Elon Musk has offered to help Puerto Rico out, possibly by deploying solar power around the island. Puerto Rico is ideally situated for solar power in many respects. It’s relatively close to the equator—closer than any location in the continental U.S. —and it enjoys high amounts of sunshine for most of the year.