Elon Musk, Puerto Rico governor speak on Tesla rebuilding power grid

Billionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk spoke with Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Friday about his offer to have Tesla rebuild the U.S. territory’s power grid.

Rosselló confirmed the two spoke in a tweet Friday night.

“Great initial conversation with @elonmusk tonight,” the governor tweeted. “Teams are now talking; exploring opportunities. Next steps soon to follow.”

Great initial conversation with @elonmusk tonight. Teams are now talking; exploring opportunities. Next steps soon to follow.

— Ricardo Rossello (@ricardorossello) October 7, 2017

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In a tweet Thursday, Musk said he believes Tesla could rebuild the country’s power grid with batteries and solar power.

“The Tesla team has [built solar grids] for many smaller islands around the world, but there is no scalability limit, so it can be done for Puerto Rico too,” Musk said. “Such a decision would be in the hands of the PR govt, PUC, any commercial stakeholders and, most importantly, the people of PR.”

Tesla has done similar projects to provide power in Hawaii and American Samoa, but on a much smaller scale.

Musk also said in a tweet Friday that Tesla was sending more staff to the U.S. territory to assist in the recovery efforts.

Just over 10 percent of the island currently has power, and Puerto Rican officials have said it could take four to six months to restore power to some households.