if the developing world can go solar, maybe puerto rico can too - battery energy storage system

Puerto Rico is in the midst of the worst power outage in the United States. S. history.
More than two months after Hurricane Maria struck the island, most of the island still had no electricity.
Some Puerto Ricans say the current crisis should be a wake-up call.
The island needs to transfer to a phone that is not very concentrated in the power system.
Solar energy may be part of the solution.
In other words, they believe that Puerto Rico should follow the example of many developing countries where solar production is rapidly expanding.
Although Puerto Rico is part of the United States, its electricity problems are similar to those of extremely poor countries in Africa and Southeast Asia.
On September 20, Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane, caused the entire grid to collapse.
But it was not very good until then. Maria.
Due to the lack of maintenance, the transmission lines and power plants of the Puerto Rico Power Authority, also known as PREPA, are collapsing.
It charges more than any utility in the mainland, but PREPA is still financially bankrupt.
This summer, the Electric Power Authority filed for bankruptcy after failing to repay part of its $9 billion debt.
"PREPA failed," Arturo Massol Deyá said . " He lives in Adjuntas, a mountainous inland town on the island.
A few weeks after Maria was attacked, most of the 20,000 inhabitants of Adjuntas still had no electricity.
"The only person with electricity is the one who has his own generator.
But from the government. . . zero, nothing.
"Massol is a professor of microbiology and ecology at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez and a board member of Casa Pueblo, a non-profit community group based in Adjuntas.
Massol is one of the island's residents and he still has electricity because he has solar panels.
For years, Massol and other activists at Casa Pueblo have advocated the acceptance of alternative energy sources in Puerto Rico.
The group installed its first solar panel array 18 years ago.
Massol and others say Puerto Rico should take advantage of the disaster as an opportunity to get rid of what Massol calls an "outdated, corrupt power generation model ".
"At the moment, the staff of the utility sector, the federal emergency response authority and the Puerto Rican government are frantically trying to re-
String up the wires and restore power throughout the island.
Casa Pueblo is pushing for a project they call "50 with the Sun" that sets a goal of generating 50% from solar power.
"The engineers at the University of Puerto Rico said that if we now have 60 to 65% of the surface of all the roofs on the island covered by solar panels, massol said:" We can generate 100% of the energy demand during peak hours. ".
"So what we're saying is that the potential is there.
"But it will be a huge shift for Puerto Rico.
Prior to Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico received only a small portion of its electricity from solar energy.
According to US media reportsS.
Only 2% of the island's electricity came from any renewable energy last year.
"The Commonwealth has some renewable solar, wind, water and electricity and biomass resources, but mainly relies on imported fossil fuels to meet energy needs," EIA noted in its latest profile in Puerto Rico . ".
In early October, Tesla's founder Elon Musk suggested on Twitter that his company could build a completely new power system for the island based on solar panels and batteries.
Governor Ricardo roslow quickly replied on Twitter: "Let's talk.
"Rosello has publicly supported the installation of more solar panels in Puerto Rico, but there is still no electricity in most parts of the island and he is also charging forward to rebuild the old power system
The new solar cell array being installed is being installed piecemeal, mainly as a replacement for diesel generators.
A few weeks after Elon Musk's tweet, Tesla installed a 200 solar cell array and a battery storage system at a children's hospital in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
"We 've been out of power for more than a month," said Juliana Cano Rivera, the hospital's manager, looking at rows of solar panels covering the parking lot of hospital staff.
24-hospital-
Hourly care for 35 children.
Hospital and outpatient services are also provided for children.
The hospital has two diesel generators, which work alternately to keep the lights on.
"We have a plan to try not to over-use the generator.
The generator running 24 hours will not be created.
"They are for an emergency," Canino said . ".
"So we tried to turn them off for four hours at a time.
But the reality is that the weather is too hot or too dark and I would rather run the generator than scare the kids and cause complications to their health.
"However, she is concerned that one of the generators may fail completely. The solar-
Now, the power supply system can meet the hospital's demand for electricity for 20 hours a day.
The global solar power generation capacity is booming, but the biggest expansion is outside the global North.
China has invested more in PV than any other country in the world.
According to the 21st century Renewable Energy Policy Network, China's electricity from photovoltaic cells increased by 45% during the 2016 s.
South Africa is investing heavily in solar energy.
Barbados leads the world in solar hot water production per capita.
Many countries in Africa have found it easier to expand power supply with relatively small solar power plants, rather than running more lines outside fossil-fuel power plants that are often overburdened.
"In places like Ghana, we actually put [solar]
The system is parallel to the existing grid because the existing grid is unreliable and costly, "said Brian Quinn, electrical engineer at the University of Maryland.
Quinn and a few non-
Profit Group for designing and installing solar systems in Africa.
He said, little, self. Contains Micro
Power grid is an efficient way to expand power supply.
"You don't need to build big infrastructure," he said . "
"You can do this in the community --by-
The community base allowed by dollars and time.
He said smaller solar energy
Power systems can enable developing countries to cross the tedious and arduous process of building national power grids that rely on large power plants.
He said that in many developing countries that have already happened.
At the Children's Hospital in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, julianna Canino Rivera said that during the ongoing power outage on her island, solar panels were not only much quieter than diesel generators, but more reliable.