Rebecca Kern reports that U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the nominee to head the Energy Department’s electricity office both see potential for U.S. national lab-engineered electricity innovations to rebuild Puerto Rico’s hurricane-shattered grid. The U.S. territory could be a testing ground for new electricity-delivery technologies from the national laboratories, Energy nominee Bruce Walker told Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members Sept. 26. Perry, in a separate appearance, also talked of the possibilities of lab innovations involving nuclear power. Hurricane Maria knocked out Puerto Rico’s entire electric grid, leaving its 3.4 million residents without power. Energy Committee members asked Walker what could be done to improve the U.S. territory’s resilience against future storms. Walker, nominated to be the department’s assistant secretary for electricity delivery and energy reliability, said he sees a “tremendous opportunity” to use Puerto Rico to deploy projects developed at Energy’s national laboratories “to introduce new concepts and perhaps new architectural construction.” He talked about the potential for a more “collapsible” electric grid system in Puerto Rico that can come down in a hurricane with high winds—but be restored quickly. “I think that, plus with new innovation with new technologies, will allow for the redevelopment and reconstruction of the actual overall system in Puerto Rico,” he said.
Perry also spoke about the potential of deploying national lab innovations in Puerto Rico during a panel discussion at a Sept. 26 National Clean Energy Week event in Washington, D.C. “Wouldn’t it make abundant good sense if we had small modular reactors that literally you could put in the back of C-17 [military cargo] aircraft, transport it to an area like Puerto Rico, and push it out the back end, crank it up and plug it in?” he asked. “That’s the type of innovation that’s going on at our national labs. Hopefully, we can expedite that,” he said. Small modular nuclear reactor technologies are smaller-scale—between 50 megawatts and 600 megawatts and touted by their proponents as safer than conventional reactors. However, they currently aren’t expected to be on the U.S. market until at least the mid-2020s, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviewing NuScale Power LLC’s application for its technology.
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), chairman of Energy and Natural Resources’ Energy Subcommittee, said at the hearing, “I think there are some ways that we could work with the Department of Energy, perhaps dealing with mutual assistance opportunities in Puerto Rico as we rebuild the grid.” If confirmed, Walker would head the Energy Department office working to ensure the U.S. energy delivery system is secure, resilient and reliable and helps develop new technologies to improve electricity infrastructure.
Original URL withdrawn?: https://www.bna.com/puerto-rico-eyed-n73014467356/
Managed & Built by I2M Consulting, LLC | © 2010-
