Residential
Commercial
Community

Lessons from Puerto Rico on Resiliency

June 5, 2018
|
4 Min

Through our work partnering with organizations on the ground in Puerto Rico, we have seen a number of lessons that we hope spread rapidly to other parts of the country and world. In particular, When the Grid Goes Down,You Lose More than the Lights. Vital services such as water pumping and health care can grind to a halt also, threatening the survival of residents. Puerto Rico experienced the loss of clean water to several remote areas of the island with loss of the grid power. Without water or health care, people are forced to move from their homes to areas where basic needs can be met. We are excited for our partnership with the nonprofit Water Mission to address those in desperate need of clean water in Puerto Rico.

Clean Energy for Clean Water

We recently released a video from our work on the ground there featuring one of these installations with Water Mission. Through integration of solar panels and our Blue Ion batteries, we have enabled the town of Corozal to have clean-energy powered clean drinking water. The town lost half its population due to the lack of electricity and water. Now the remaining 60 families are able to have reliable water supplies.

Microgrids with Blue Ion Featured at InterSolar North America

Our work in Puerto Rico has brought microgrids front and center in the energy planning process. We continue to focus on energy independence and grid independence through the integration of powerful storage systems into homes and businesses. Kyle Bolger, VP of Engineering, will deliver a talk on lessons from Puerto Rico at the upcoming InterSolar event in San Francisco, CA. If you will be at the event, we hope you will attend and connect with the BPE staff who will be present.

Details of the talk are:

Disaster Relief & Emergency Response Deployment of PV + Storage
Date: Wednesday July, 11, 2018
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Time: 4:15 pm – 06:00 pm
Location: West Hall Level 3, Room 3009

https://www.intersolar.us/en/conference/session/disaster-relief-emergency-response-deployment-of-pv-storage-1863.html