Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC, a two-year-old company in small town Whitefish, Montana which opened for business in 2015, landed a $300million (£227.34m) contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to restore power back to the island. The company only had two full-time employees at the time Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico.

How will Whitefish Energy restore power to Puerto Rico?

The island is no doubt Whitefish's biggest contract yet and the company knows it has a challenge ahead of them.

However, since they claim they have expertise in mountainous areas, Puerto Rico's situation shouldn't give them too many challenges.

Whitefish has said that it has 280 workers on the island using linemen from across the country, most of them, subcontractors and the numbers continue to grow everyday from 10 to 20 people.

The island has 2,400 miles of transmission lines across the island and 30,000 miles of distribution lines with 300 substations and an estimation of 80 percent of the grid has been damaged. So the total restoration of power is approximated to be put several months out but Whitefish Energy hopes to restore a majority of power to the island's 3.4 million residents.

Whitefish Energy already catching flack

The territory's spending for the recovery is drawing criticism and scrutiny - it has the US Congress and other officials baffled. With this contract, Puerto Rican government made a rather unusual move. PREPA decided to hire Whitefish Energy rather than activate "mutual aid" arrangements, a programme it has with other utilities to recover quickly after natural disasters like the US Virgin Islands did.

Concerns are rising because this is a country that is bankrupt and the power authority itself in $9billion worth of debt.

As the details of the contract remain unknown, and little is known about the company, people remain sceptical - government watchdogs and industry heavyweights alike - and questions remained unanswered. Under pressure, the governor's office said in a tweet that the contract with Whitefish will be audited and ensures it remains at FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) standards.

Power for Puerto Rico: what now?

The Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, hopes that with the help of Whitefish Energy, 30 percent of power be restored by 30 October, 50 percent by 15 November and 95 percent by 15 December so that the local economy can start running again.
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