Tesla Makes Quick Work of Puerto Rico Hospital Solar Power Relief Project

Megalith

Megalith

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Tesla is showing that it’s making good on its promise of help, with significant progress being made on one solar generation/storage facility on the island. The facility in question will provide power to Hospital del Niño, with a combination of solar cells and Tesla’s Powerpack commercial energy storage batteries. That should mean it can not only generate power from the sun’s rays in times of need, but also store up a reserve.

Tesla noted on Twitter that this is just the “first of many solar+storage projects going live,” after the company discussed how it might help with Puerto Rico’s ongoing recovery efforts with PR Governor Ricardo Rossello following an exchange between the Governor and Musk on Twitter. Rossello and Puerto Rican Chief Innovation Officer Glorimar Ripoli proposed turning the territory into a flagship example of what Tesla’s solar technologies can do for the world.
 
Good on Elon for putting his money where his mouth is, but I have to wonder what that solar array will look like after the next Cat 3 or 4 hurricane. Also, does anybody know how long the batteries are expected to be able to power the critical systems in the hospital (which I assume is all they are designed to do)?
 
They're not bringing their best batteries. I have gotten many calls from Puerrrrto Rrrrico, and they want coal plants. They all call me and ask for those. So that's what I'm doing, those will be the most beautiful plants you will see. It's not far to there, we can ship coal. I have, there is the best coal available anywhere and we are digging it up okay? So they'll get that for christmas.. coal. Have a good time, Puerrrrrrrto Rrrrricoooo
 
lollerwaffle said:
They're not bringing their best batteries. I have gotten many calls from Puerrrrto Rrrrico, and they want coal plants. They all call me and ask for those. So that's what I'm doing, those will be the most beautiful plants you will see. It's not far to there, we can ship coal. I have, there is the best coal available anywhere and we are digging it up okay? So they'll get that for christmas.. coal. Have a good time, Puerrrrrrrto Rrrrricoooo
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Lol.

Seriously though, 2 big thumbs up for Mr musk. I wonder if they are developing a sort of dome system to cover the solar panels to protect against the next hurricane.
 
PaulP said:
Good on Elon for putting his money where his mouth is, but I have to wonder what that solar array will look like after the next Cat 3 or 4 hurricane. Also, does anybody know how long the batteries are expected to be able to power the critical systems in the hospital (which I assume is all they are designed to do)?
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It's not his money... it's our money.
 
I'm assuming you have a link to that, I mean, other than just the fact that PR is part of America, so any money the government spends is tax money? What about the 250k he directly donated plus the fact that he stopped another project to focus on this one?
 
lollerwaffle said:
They're not bringing their best batteries. I have gotten many calls from Puerrrrto Rrrrico, and they want coal plants. They all call me and ask for those. So that's what I'm doing, those will be the most beautiful plants you will see. It's not far to there, we can ship coal. I have, there is the best coal available anywhere and we are digging it up okay? So they'll get that for christmas.. coal. Have a good time, Puerrrrrrrto Rrrrricoooo
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Bwahaha nailed it.
 
nysmo said:
Does that mean Trump can give himself an 11/10 for success?
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There's no way Trump wouldn't take credit for anything positive that foxnews tells him happened for PR.

And he still couldn't find it on a map.
 
Vader1975 said:
Mouth then action.
Something every last person in Washington could learn from.
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It's too bad the only time washington uses it's mouth is to wrap around a corporate phallus that releases wads of money..... Or to dribble out bullshit.....

I do agree though, it would be nice if washington worked like that.
 
ob1 said:
I'm assuming you have a link to that, I mean, other than just the fact that PR is part of America, so any money the government spends is tax money? What about the 250k he directly donated plus the fact that he stopped another project to focus on this one?
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You mean other than what? Our taxpayer dollars are paying for those, not Tesla(solarcity). If they were paying for those, WE ALREADY funded them both to the tune of 5 billion. Either way, it's taxpayer money.


Glad he donated 250 whole thousand dollars. I remember when Michael Schumacher donated 10 MILLION for tsunami relief. He was worth about a 50th of Elon Musk at the time.
 
PaulP said:
Good on Elon for putting his money where his mouth is, but I have to wonder what that solar array will look like after the next Cat 3 or 4 hurricane. Also, does anybody know how long the batteries are expected to be able to power the critical systems in the hospital (which I assume is all they are designed to do)?
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There was a news article about a Puerto Rican hotel owner who had installed solar on his facility in San Juan. It weathered the storm beautifully and is now powering his neighborhood.

So, I'd say a well designed solar array could take what Maria dished out and keep working afterwards.
 
That panel array looks awesome, this will be a huge help till the next hurricane.
 
Solar panels are actually quite tough and more resilient than wood power poles and lines everywhere. And if panels gets jacked, you just replace the damaged ones.

I suspect for that hospital it was more important to get it up and running than a functional parking lot. And they can just raise the panels 10 or 15 feet and tada, instant covered parking. Win Win! There's an office building by my house (by UT Dallas) that has panels raised like that in the parking lot.

I like it. Wish I could afford them for my house. A ton of people in my neighborhood have installed panels on the roofs (Solarcity, I assume), but my primary roof surface doesn't face south so I'm kinda boned. My home improvement list is pretty steep as it is, solar panels are about # 99 on my list, LOL
 
PaulP said:
Good on Elon for putting his money where his mouth is, but I have to wonder what that solar array will look like after the next Cat 3 or 4 hurricane. Also, does anybody know how long the batteries are expected to be able to power the critical systems in the hospital (which I assume is all they are designed to do)?
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It looks like the array allows panels to be removed relatively easily. Maybe when the next storm comes they batten down the hatches and batten up the panels. The battery supplies power overnight and charges through the day.


Semantics said:
Ask tesla how those model 3's are coming along.
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I hear there is a factory making them.
 
Regardless of how many bad spins could be put on this, at least did something that should prove to be truly helpful for them.
 
Verge said:
You mean other than what? Our taxpayer dollars are paying for those, not Tesla(solarcity). If they were paying for those, WE ALREADY funded them both to the tune of 5 billion. Either way, it's taxpayer money.

Glad he donated 250 whole thousand dollars. I remember when Michael Schumacher donated 10 MILLION for tsunami relief. He was worth about a 50th of Elon Musk at the time.
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I'm just saying you seem pretty convinced that all of this was purchased by PR government already. Since it would be an open government procurement by the US government, it should be easy to find. Also the fact that his company just stopped doing other stuff to do this nearly immediately. I have done enough government procurement to know that it would take years for the US government to do a procurement of this level and dollar value. I'm not defending and I'm not a fan boy, but you seem to have something against him for trying... They are tax paying US citizens, 75k of them are veterans of our countries military. Do they not deserve the help?
 
Good for him maybe their politicians can pay him a bit of the money we waste on the island.
 
ob1 said:
I'm just saying you seem pretty convinced that all of this was purchased by PR government already. Since it would be an open government procurement by the US government, it should be easy to find. Also the fact that his company just stopped doing other stuff to do this nearly immediately. I have done enough government procurement to know that it would take years for the US government to do a procurement of this level and dollar value. I'm not defending and I'm not a fan boy, but you seem to have something against him for trying... They are tax paying US citizens, 75k of them are veterans of our countries military. Do they not deserve the help?
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I don't think tesla necessarily stopped doing anything. Keep in mind solarcity was a separate entity, that was then acquired by tesla via some underhand deals. I'm sure they are jumping all over this, hoping for some government money to keep them going. My point being that they didn't' stop making cars or something to go help... and it's definitely not altruism.
 
Semantics said:
Ask tesla how those model 3's are coming along.
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You failed entirely to see the point. Tesla also wildly underestimated the complexity of high volume mass production. They haven’t been able to get sub components built in scale to support the demand. He generated the demand but could not supply due to suppliers who are outside his control. They will fix it eventually. But my comments and this article have nothing to do with all that.
 
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