It has been around three weeks since hurricane Maria devastated the U.S territory, Puerto Rico but the after effects of the disaster are still prevalent. On October 5, 2017, Elon Musk (co-founder and CEO of Tesla) took to Twitter to explain how he and the Tesla team would like to fix Puerto Rico’s power grid, just as they have in the past with other small islands (Hawaii and Samoa). Musk made this comment replying to a Twitter user who asked if it was even possible for Tesla to do such a thing.

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The governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello then replied to Musk’s tweet saying “@elonMusk Let’s talk. Do you want to show the world the power and scalability of your #TeslaTechnologies? PR could be that flagship project.”

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The governor of Puerto Rico stated that less than 10% of the island has gained power, and that it could take up to a month to get power for a quarter of the households. Therefore if Musk keeps his word, like he recently has been with providing Australia with the world’s biggest battery, it could speed up the process of Puerto Rico’s recovery, significantly.

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It was brought up that Musk made the statement in order to take advantage of events in the 24-hour news cycle. This stirrup led to a conversation about American attitudes about big governments and its limitations. In the past 25 years, ever since hurricane Andrew hit Florida, it has become common for Presidents to receive backlash regarding their immediate reactions to natural disasters. President Bush at the time that hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, amongst other areas, failed to react in the wake of the storm, causing his approval rate to go down.

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While the government, specifically President Trump has experienced scrutiny based on his course of action with the treatment of Puerto Rico. Another thought that has been brought up is whether Musk is solely saying he will help Puerto Rico in order to receive positive advertising and public relations for his company.  Musk is taking a step forward and making an investment in Puerto Rico, despite the island’s immense debt.

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If Musk follows through with his statement, investors will see Puerto Rico differently. Tesla could make the island profitable through a real improvement, unlike other companies that are donating supplies and money solely. Google’s company, Alphabet, has also stated they will make a contribution to Puerto Rico by flying large balloons over the island in order to provide residents with cell phone service.

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Musk seems to be serious about helping Puerto Rico considering he tweeted that the unveiling for a Tesla Semi would be postponed to November 16th because Tesla is increasing battery production in order to provide for the island.

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Elon Musk has been at the tier front of innovation lately, and has plans to continue to grow and evolve his company. Not only has Musk created a highly successful Tesla motor company, but he has also been involved in numerous solar projects, and even the founder of SpaceX. SpaceX, is a company that develops reusable rockets for space flight and last week he announced his latest project for a city to city rocket transportation system.

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Official plans on whether Tesla will indeed rebuild Puerto Rico’s power grid are still in the works but official plans should be revealed in upcoming weeks.