Dr. Conca reports that Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are in the midst of the largest blackout in American history. But it appears that a more serious contractor has come to the islands to help resurrect their electrical and power systems. The Louis Berger Group has won an Army Corps of Engineers contract, worth a potential $860 million, to supply temporary power to these islands after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. A previous contractor has high-tailed it back to Montana in the midst of controversy and lawsuits concerning its performance in the aftermath of the devastation. Because of the magnitude of this disaster, emergency power will probably not give way to more permanent power until next summer, and temporary systems will be kept on where needed. There are now 700 temporary generators operating in Puerto Rico providing emergency power until the power system is rebuilt. And until power is restored, all other problems really cannot be solved.
Even the United Nations has scolded the U.S. response to a disaster on our own people, and they particularly noted how our response in Puerto Rico has been so much worse than our response to mainland storms in Texas, New Jersey and Florida. You can blame hurricane-fatigue by Americans, but Puerto Rico became a territory almost 120 years ago, well before Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawai became states, which makes our poor response even more appalling.
So all eyes are on Louis Berger. Their division in the United States has already begun work in the islands, deploying hundreds of commercial power generators. Berger has about 900 people working on this crisis - 40% from Puerto Rico and 60% from the mainland. Those workers are supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Postal Service and the Defense Logistics Agency. That means doing things like putting power lines underground - the few underground lines weathered Maria quite well – and making those poles that can’t be subsurface out of high-strength concrete. It also means installing power systems whose fuel and physical structures are resistant to extreme weather events.
Solar and battery companies are sending materials to Puerto Rico to begin building an significant solar sector on the island. Puerto Rico’s young Govenor, Ricardo Rosselló has recently become a champion of renewables, tweeting with Elon Musk before Tesla began installing a solar and battery array to power the island’s Hospital del Nino. Some solar arrays and wind farms on Puerto Rico made it through the storm fine, but many didn’t. Dams had a tough time as well. But for long-term sustainability beyond 2025, more robust systems should be installed as they come online. A set of new small modular nuclear reactors , with distributed solar and modest storage, could power the entire island cheaply and most reliably, especially during hurricanes.
SMRs will begin construction in the U.S. in the early 2020s or sooner, but many exist around the world already. And our military has been the world leader in developing and using small nuclear reactors. A new report from the Nuclear Innovation Alliance outlines ways to accelerate this process.
For original URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2017/12/13/are-we-finally-going-to-help-puerto-rico-power-up/#78e1db02556e
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