Puerto Rico energy plan introduces MiniGrids to avoid repeat of Hurricane Maria

No, I don't work in frequency regulation. If you want to hire me into it however, I might be interested.

I don't know what sort of concepts you mean, and as I said earlier, the main issue is how you get the grid as a whole to do large-distance load-balancing/load-shifting. These decisions can't be made local for lack of insight into how loaded long-distance transmission lines are and how throttled different regions are, and therefore which regions you want the power to come from. There are certain industrial loads that can be time-shifted, and some that are only worthwhile to operate at lower prices, where reduced utilization (and thus increased capex) has to be hedged against higher energy prices (and thus increased opex). If you get fine-grained surge pricing for consumers combined with some forecasting and automatic decision making to e.g. shut devices off during surges or incentivize people to use the electric shower/kettle at a different point in time, you should get by without any fossil fuels at all. Think like adjusting clock speeds/power targets of servers depending on momentary prices, to best balance capex and opex (batch jobs only), or adjust the energy you expend on video encoding for live streams to balance perceived quality and costs.

Obviously adjust EV charging. With e.g. minimal range targets for different points in time, or user-friendly ways of expressing the trade-off between higher range for the next day (and thus more freedom) and higher costs (kWh required during the EV's stay at the charger). It could even go to distribute charging stops based on forecasts for energy prices/availability, so you use the flexibility in when exactly to stop on a long trip for load-shaping the power grid.

The Washington Post article hints at some of the differences between their repair and more permanent work:

> Alaska DOT spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy was quick to emphasize that this was emergency repair work and not a regular transportation project.

> The latter requires permitting, survey operations, geotechnical work and a host of other prerequisites — and those finished roadways are designed to last, say, 20 years, she said.

> “All of those things take a lot of time,” McCarthy told The Washington Post. “This is not that kind of project. This is a project to restore essential travel.”

> While the repaired road is safe for drivers, it will require additional work after the spring arrives, she added.

Notwithstanding that, you are missing the point. The failure to rebuild the tunnel is at its heart a failure of leadership. We have the technology, we have the money, what we lack are political leaders with will and vision.

In the examples you brought up, FDR led a nation dragging their heels into a war most people were happy to stay out of. He showed leadership and no small amount of political skill to get the United States into a war most wanted to avoid (which makes the 'beat-the-axis-singlehandedly' trope even more ironic.) Similarly with Lincoln and the Civil War. Many people were content to live with the status quo of slavery. And so with Kennedy and the moon landing -- the Cold War was not an existential threat, and the leadership of Kennedy generated the will.

To get a subway tunnel repaired doesn't need a once in a century or once in a generation leader, but it does take some will and vision and political savvy. The venal mealy-mouthed bums we're currently stuck with are simply not up to the task.

Not him, but I am puertorican. There's nothing unusual in someone being unable to take care of their home, it happens with some frequency. By the same token, it should not be surprising that several nations fit this bill. I would probably toss most of the southern hemisphere in that bin, Puerto Rico included.

> But that was colonialism!

I tried this thought experiment once: imagine the people of the wealthy global north just disappeared today. Does this mean the problems of the global south are fixed? The answer to this is self-evidently 'no', at least to me. It's useless to ruminate on the past, it is not the global north that create and maintain our current situation. It's ok to admit that it's us that haven't put in a good performance.

No it isn't. Quite common.

>Do you ever hear people talk about states this way. Is New York, West Virginia, or Washington ever "not responsible enough" to have control over their roads, electricity, or water supply?

Yes! All the time. For example, people complain all the time about the way California is run, or the way LA or SF is run.

>Can you elaborate on why you think the people of Puerto Rico are not to to be trusted taking care of their home?

He didn't say anything about the people of Puerto Rico - he was talking about the government and the power authority. No matter what happens, the people of Puerto Rico will continue to run their own affairs.

In general, it matters very much how the money is appropriated for whatever you’re going to do with government money. What you might not be able to do under one particular program may not be prohibited at all under another. Or, some official may be empowered to waive some requirements. I would expect, for example, that FEMA might be able to waive the requirement you speak of, if, for example, they found it was less expensive, or even just convenient for the government.

And in terms of what the specific person I was talking with had to say, his bid on work with PREPA included proposals based on getting funding for upgrades as he had previously done in Florida after another hurricane. Which seemed reasonable when he explained. Basically, Florida Power & Light got grants from FEMA to do various upgrades to their grid because the upgrades were likely to save the feds money in a future hurricane. Or at least, that was his explanation. And it fits with my experience in DC early in my career as well.