It would, he says, represent a major system overhaul and thus lost time that Puerto Rico’s residents and economy can ill afford. Giving up big transmission lines sounds optimistic to Rockwell at the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC). Ideal Power’s multi-port power converters enable microgrids to efficiently swap power between their alternating current and direct current components, including PV systems, generators, and storage batteries. “The grid in Puerto Rico will never be built back the way it used to be,” wrote John Merritt, applications engineering director for Austin, Texas-based Ideal Power in an email to IEEE Spectrum. Some suppliers see microgrids actually supplanting some of the region’s largest transmission lines. They can start over with a cleaner slate.” He says the Caribbean has a similar opportunity today: “The infrastructure was devastated so severely. “They built a more advanced grid than we have in the U.S.,” says Asmus. He says microgrids will also make the island systems more resilient in the long run.Īsmus sees the situation as reminiscent of post-war Europe, when devastated European grids left a vacuum that enabled something better. Peter Asmus, a microgrids analyst with Navigant Research, says that such solar microgrids will deliver power to solar system owners far faster than grid restoration, which is still months away for many customers. Tesla says it is sending “hundreds” of its Powerwall battery systems to Puerto Rico and, after reports of price gouging by independent installers, plans to dispatch installers from the mainland to expand its local teams.Sunnova is crafting storage options for roughly 10,000 customers in Puerto Rico that it has already equipped with PV systems.German storage system manufacturer sonnen launched a PV-plus-battery collaboration with local Aguadilla-based solar developer Pura Energía early this month.What is clear is that several firms are trying to move fast while they talk, equipping rooftop solar systems with battery storage that enables consumers to operate independently of stricken grids. But it bounced back slightly, to an estimated 83 percent outage level, by yesterday. Its outage level actually slipped from 88.3 to 89.4 percent earlier this week after a tie line went down near San Juan. Puerto Rico lost major transmission lines that dispatched electricity generated at oil, coal, and natural gas-fired power plants on its lightly populated South shore to all corners of the territory. Virgin Islands remained without power, according to U.S. As of Thursday 12 October-more than three weeks after Maria’s cyclonic wrecking ball crossed the region-over four-fifths of customers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Dominica, and St. Now is a tough time for a debate, given the ongoing power and communications blackouts afflicting many Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Unfortunately I think the quickest way to do that is to go back to how things were before,” says Brad Rockwell, power supply manager for the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative that operates one of the most renewable-heavy grids in the U.S. They say that the pressing need to restore power, plus equipment costs and other practical considerations, call for sustained reliance on centralized grids and fossil fuels in the Caribbean. Some power system experts, however, say the solar-plus-batteries vision may be oversold. Rosselló appears to be on board, inviting Elon Musk via tweet to use Puerto Rico as a “flagship project” to "show the world the power and scalability” of Tesla’s technologies, which include photovoltaic (PV) rooftops and Powerwall battery systems. The world will follow,” asserted John Berger, CEO for Houston-based solar developer Sunnova Energy in a tweet before meeting in San Juan with Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló this week. “Puerto Rico will lead the way for the new generation of clean energy infrastructure. Rather than simply rebuilding grids that delivered mostly diesel generation via damage-prone overhead power lines, renewables advocates argue that the island grids should leapfrog into the future by interconnecting hundreds or thousands of self-sufficient solar microgrids. After the destruction inflicted across the Caribbean by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, renewable energy advocates are calling for a rethink of the region’s devastated power systems.
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