Tesla builds solar farm to power children’s hospital in Puerto Rico

Tesla has set up a solar farm in Puerto Rico to restore power to a children’s hospital that was damaged by Hurricane Maria.

Founder Elon Musk posted photos of the solar-battery project on his Instagram page, saying it would be the “first of many” similar projects that the company will set up on the island.

“Hospital del Niño (Children’s Hospital) is the first of many solar+battery Tesla projects going live in Puerto Rico,” Musk wrote Tuesday.

Hospital del Niño (Children’s Hospital) is the first of many solar+battery Tesla projects going live in Puerto Rico. Glad to help support the recovery. Congrats to the Tesla team for working 24/7 to make this happen as fast as possible.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Oct 24, 2017 at 7:50pm PDT

{mosads}Earlier this month, Musk boasted of Tesla’s electric rebuilding abilities and offered to have the company rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid using batteries and solar power. Musk met with Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rosselló to discuss the project.

As of Tuesday, more than one month after the hurricane first made landfall, only 18 percent of Puerto Ricans had power — fewer than previous counts.

New controversy has emerged around the task of restoring power to Puerto Rico. On Tuesday, a small company from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s home town was awarded a $300 million contract to to fix the electrical infrastructure, facing backlash from congressional Democrats, who want the contract investigated.