Puerto Rico's capital of San Juan to be powered by APR Energy's turbines

APR Energy works to bring lights back on in Puerto Rico

APR Energy CEO and chairman John Campion discusses what his company is doing to help restore power in Puerto Rico, which remains largely without it after the devastating Hurricane Maria struck the island.

It has been one month since Hurricane Maria charged through the Caribbean towards Puerto Rico, wiping out the island’s power grid and much of its infrastructure.

As of Tuesday, only 18% of electric utility customers actually have access to power while others are dependent on diesel-fueled generators.

APR Energy says it will have the lights back on in the capital city of San Juan very quickly through its mobile power plants.

“We’ve already placed them on the site in a place called Palo Seco which is a power plant in San Juan,” APR Energy CEO and Chairman John Campion told FOX Business’ Ashley Webster.

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hired the Jacksonville, Florida-based company to deliver two electricity-producing turbines. The APR turbine rentals, built by General Electric (NYSE:GE), will produce up to 60 megawatts of electricity to power 300,000 homes.

Campion said assessing the impact of Hurricane Maria on the transmission lines that power San Juan delayed the shipment of the turbines.

“Part of the problem is San Juan’s power, a lot of that comes from the south and that’s transmission lines coming over the mountains, and those transmissions were pretty much wiped out,” he said.

APR Energy is working very closely with the Army Corps of Engineers, General Electric, local utility companies and government officials to turn the lights back on in Puerto Rico.

“We won’t solve the full problem, but we will solve part of the problem and then we will bring more machines on and solve more of the problems,” Campion said.