Disaster brings opportunity
How Puerto Rico can change the world.
The Hurricane season has always had a devastating impact on the Island communities in the Atlantic, disaster strikes then they rebuild disaster strikes again, then they rebuild.
This time is different. Puerto Rico’s economy has failed to produce anything of Global Value, as such the high costs of living on an Island has taken a toll on the economy, finally filing Bankruptcy earlier this year. The high cost of energy, poor infrastructure, lack of well-educated and trained workforce all led to the inevitable, and yet not similar to the Detroit filing in 2013. The Island cannot produce economic value without a reset.
Now comes not one but two major hurricanes in the 2017 season, Puerto Rico has had its electrical and communications infrastructures completely wiped from the Islands. 100% loss of power, 100% loss of communications.
I would remind us of the small town of Valdez in Alaska following the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake; it took out the entire town. However, unlike Puerto Rico, the town was able to rebuild in a new location safe from the major fault line that led to the destruction in 1964. Puerto Rico is an Island and simply can’t relocate out of the path of such major storm events.
While I have seen some helping hands, hospital, money, materials, going to the Island. It is Tesla and Google that have offered to bring about a “Fresh Start.” Tesla has shipped a number of their “Powerwall 2.0” systems to the Island assisting in bringing power to some of the most critical areas. Google has pushed their “Loon” project for FCC approval to restore communications across the entirety of Puerto Rico, and working in conjunction with the current operators should give necessary relief to the lack of communications which hinders rescue and reconstruction.
It is the Tesla PowerWall that most interest me in how not only it might restore power, it could pave the way for a new system of energy production and distribution. The “MicroGrid” has no limits to scale, first outlined in Bob Galvin’s “Perfect Power” architecture; Mr. Musk has taken the problem head on and with the support of the Governor, and hopefully FEMA and Federal Funding, this single step may solve the Economic problem that led to the Bankruptcy in the first place.
When a full Island Micro-grid is in place, the cost of energy production will be highly competitive to power grids across the Globe, new technology’s, business, manufacturing, farming, education, and healthcare become possible.
The new Puerto Rico would in effect become one of the “MicroCities” that I have been focused on building over the past two decades. As projects like Google’s Loon and Tesla’s Powerwall find their way into our lives, the changes of how our communities interact and thrive also grow.
