Puerto Rico had faced the fury of Hurricane Maria that devastated its infrastructure and left it without power. The system was outdated and restoration was difficult. However, the authorities had to restore electricity and it is turning out to be a long drawn out process because of lack of accessibility to remote locations.

CNN reports that electrical power has reached nearly half of the users, including residential, commercial, and industrial clients. The information has been released by the governor’s office and there is no mention of individual people.

The bottom line is that large portions of the island have yet to get back the power.

Problems are genuine

Hurricane Maria was the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in 85 years. It uprooted the electrical poles and destroyed the power grids. The non-availability of electricity had forced many Puerto Ricans to flee to the US mainland. In today’s world, electricity is linked to every aspect of life, including education and medical care, and its absence is felt at every step.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, it could take up to March to bring back normalcy to Puerto Rico. However, in very remote and inaccessible areas, the work could extend to May. The ARC has also indicated that there is a shortage of material because, apart from Hurricane Maria, there were other disasters like Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma in Florida that struck the United States in quick succession.

Therefore, the available material had to be shared.

Puerto Rico could opt to go green

Ricardo Rosselló, the governor of Puerto Rico, has his options open to go in for solar energy to power the island, and he has discussed the matter with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla. The island depends on fossil fuels to generate electricity and solar power would mean a switch over to green energy.

That would also help to arrest global warming, which is believed to be responsible for the erratic behavior of the climate. However, it would be a cost-intensive affair.

Solar energy is not new to the island. Vox reports that before Hurricane Maria struck, Puerto Rico received very little of its electricity from sources of renewable energy.

A company like Tesla, which is into solar power in a big way, feels that there is ample scope on the island to embrace green power. An example is a children’s hospital in San Juan, which restarted in October using solar equipment supplied by Tesla. It was the result of talks between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Gov. Rosselló.
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