Disaster can be devastating – but it can also create the conditions for positive change. Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017, is on the way to transforming its deteriorating grid while switching to clean energy that saves customers money and lets them share energy with neighbours. 

Maria was the deadliest US natural disaster in more than a century, and may have kiled as many as 5,740 people, in large part because the hurricane caused the largest blackout in US history and the second largest in world history. The storm shuttered hospitals and restricted access to fresh food and clean water for millions of people. 

But while it was a very hard way to learn the value of resiliency, that lesson is creating exciting new possibilities because Puerto Rico now is uniquely equipped for a residential-storage virtual power plant (VPP).