Puerto Rico Grid Re-Build After Hurricane Maria: Tesla's Elon Musk Proposes, Whitefish Disposes

Sometime in the sparkling green future, if millions of U.S. citizens see their entire conventional fossil-fueled power grid destroyed by a hurricane, energy industry leaders will be tapped to replace it with the latest renewable energy and energy storage technology -- and cutting edge "smart" microgrid systems, too. Realistically, though, the 3.4 million U.S. citizens who happen to list Puerto Rico as their official residence should at least be able to count on a wealth of conventional grid experience to get their homes, businesses, hospitals and other essential services up and running again in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Well, file this under D for Dream on, Klingon. A full month after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, most residents are still without power. Adding insult to injury, a hefty portion of the initial repair work -- including 100 miles of transmission line -- has been contracted out to a scantily staffed, inexperienced two-year-old startup company called Whitefish Energy, which lists its headquarters in Whitefish, Montana.

Something is rotten in the state of Montana

In what has become a widely reported bubbling scandal, Whitefish Energy won the largest contract so far to repair Puerto Rico's electricity grid, at $300 million.

Nothing about the contract seems ordinary. As described by The Washington Post, when disaster strikes, utilities ordinarily tap a longstanding mutual aid system to bring in experienced work crews from outside. The situation in Puerto Rico is complicated by its remote location, but it appears that PERPA (the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) gave the option of tapping APPA's aid network only a cursory look.

Whitefish had a staff of two at the time Maria struck, and it has been procuring workers through subcontracts with other utilities. According to the Post, those subcontracts also appear unusual and onerous:

Under the contract, the hourly rate was set at $330 for a site supervisor, and at $227.88 for a “journeyman lineman.” The cost for subcontractors, which make up the bulk of Whitefish’s workforce, is $462 per hour for a supervisor and $319.04 for a lineman. Whitefish also charges nightly accommodation fees of $332 per worker and almost $80 per day for food.

Although the company claims to be "on the ground" in Puerto Rico mere days after the hurricane struck, in the full month since then it has shipped in fewer than 300 workers.

In another oddity, Whitefish happens to be headquartered in the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has acknowledged an acquaintance with at the company's top executive.

As for experience, the Post dug up only two relevant contracts won by the company since its inception. One of those was a $1.1 million contract to upgrade a 4.8 mile length of transmission line, with a timeline of 11 months.

By way of comparison, last week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $240 million power restoration contract to a Texas-based company called Fluor. The company already has a history of work in Puerto Rico, which it mentions in a press release:

Fluor’s unique combination of government contingency operations and power experience, along with its 50-year presence in Puerto Rico, will enable ongoing efforts to repair transmission and distribution lines. The contract includes equipment evaluation and repair as well as work towards the re-energization and recommissioning of substations and switching stations.