New Zealand innovator Emrod says their wireless technology could be used in remote areas and in difficult terrains where traditional transmission lines could be prohibitively expensive. Sounds like a perfect match for Puerto Rico!
Three years ago when Hurricane Maria turned our electrical grid into little more than a pile of kindling fit for a lechon roast, there was a lot of rumbling from TESLA (the company) about how Puerto Rico should consider micro-grids. Without disparaging TESLA (the company) perhaps it is Tesla (the scientist) to whom we should be turning as we move toward privatization and rebuilding of our beleaguered infrastructure.
Yes, I know-- poor old Nicola Tesla is the poster boy for mad scientists, and his wireless power tower in Montauk still insights twitters of dark conspiracy around the campfire. But a company in New Zealand does not think that this farseeing physicist was a crank at all, and they are putting their capital where their mouth is.
In an August 26th article in IEEE Spectrum, government backed Emrod believes they can make the wireless grid dream of Nicola Tesla (and his decades of adoring acolytes like me) a reality. One might ask... "how does this help Puerto Rico?" Take a look at the article's opening paragraph...
California wildfires knock out electric power to thousands of people; a hurricane destroys transmission lines that link electric power stations to cities and towns; an earthquake shatters homes and disrupts power service. The headlines are dramatic and seem to occur more and more often.
When I was in the navy I personally saw how wireless phones revolutionized South America. The high mountains and vast distances between major cities made running traditional landlines very expensive, and as such-- few people had domestic telephone service. "Collectivos" (private telephone storefronts with rows and rows of pay-as-you-go telephone booths) were the norm. That was until cell phones. Overnight one tower could handle thousands of subscribers, and private telephone service instantaneously blossomed to where it is now the continent's norm.
Puerto Rico is currently (word play unintentional) in an unique position to make this dream a reality. In January, the stranglehold on our public utilities will be broken, as three companies in consortium begin the Herculean process of rebuilding our power grid. But the possibilities go far beyond just electrical power. Cars retrofitted with microwave capacitors in place of batteries could run on highways powered by microwave transponders en route, only using their gasoline engines for tertiary roads. Parking pads at homes and even city streets could be electrified (much like the wireless phone charger sitting on my desk) and the power metered via direct debit or credit payments (much like a parking meters or highway toll readers do now).
A wireless delivery and payment system thus described could execute universal charge-on-demand service for only a little more than existing capital expenditures as budgeted, but with far less in the way of ongoing operational expense. Line personnel would only have to maintain towers; meter readers would vanish as power is delivered on demand from a prepaid account. Billing would be in advance rather than accrued meaning less payment service interruptions and more ability for social services and private charities to instantaneously assist those in need. You get the idea; the impact on the price of electricity would plummet, freeing up more research and development for generation sources both here on Earth and beyond. Space based Gamma ray generators? Helium 3 burning power plants and solar arrays on the moon? Gravitational tidal power production? All these truly "clean" energy possibilities move from pipe dreams to prospectus when we build a wireless power grid.
I know these concepts may seem Utopian and futuristic, but in reality, we already have the technological ability to accomplish this right now; it is merely a question of scale and determination. Puerto Rico with its keen focus on science and technology, its overwhelming need, and its unforgiving terrain has all the earmarks for greatness in this pioneering industry. I challenge our gubernatorial candidates to take this concept seriously, and to reach out to companies like Emrod and strive to break the paradigm of traditional generation and delivery of electrical service.
I may be as crazy as poor old Nicola Tesla; but I don't see where we have anything to loose and an awful lot to gain.
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