Tesla is sending hundreds of battery packs to power outage-ridden Puerto Rico

Earlier this month, we reported on survivors of hurricane Irma, which hit the islands of Caribbean communities, including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, writing ‘SEND TESLA’ with the debris of their destroyed home.

At the time, we couldn’t be sure what they meant, but now we have a better idea since Tesla confirmed that have been sending hundreds of battery packs to power outage-ridden Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico’s power grid has been completely incapacitated by hurricane Irma. Weeks later, It’s still the case. The power is still out and some estimates suggest the outages could last months in some regions.

Now we learn that Tesla has been quietly shipping Powerwalls to Puerto Rico ever since the hurricane cleared. Bloomberg first reported yesterday and Tesla later confirmed to Electrek.

They have now sent ‘hundreds’ of battery packs to be paired with solar installations in the ravaged region in order to help restore power faster to a certain degree.

While solar and battery packs can still be affected by hurricanes, having distributed energy generation and storage capacity is safer than centralized power generation and power lines.

Furthermore, Tesla’s battery packs will enable a more efficient use of solar power even once the grid will be back up.

Nonetheless, Puerto Rico, along with several other Caribbean communities, have a long and expensive road ahead to recover.

Several organizations have set up relief funds, like United for Puerto Rico and UNICEF, and along with the battery packs, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also personally donated $250,000 to the relief effort.

Hopefully, the people who wrote ‘Send Tesla’ on the northern shore of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands (pictured above by Jonathan Drake) have their request answered.