by Chris Becker
With a new Prime Minister who should be embracing the future of energy, here comes Tesla Energy to Australia!
From Gizmodo:
Tesla, the company best known for its Model S electric sedan, is launching Tesla Energy in Australia, which will bring products including both the residential Powerwall and the industrial scaled Powerpack to our shores.
Similar to the battery in the Model S, the Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, only this one can be mounted on the wall of your house.
For those with solar panels already installed, it can store the excess energy being collected, allowing you to theoretically disconnect from the grid entirely. It can also allow users to utilise their own stored power at night, rather than losing out with the current electricity rates and feed-in-tariff system.
The standard model being plugged by Tesla — for the average household — is the 7kWh Powerwall. Tesla Energy will also be supplying 10kWh Powerwalls however, along with the commercial and utility scale Powerpack, which groups powerful 100kWh battery blocks for anywhere from 500kWh to upwards of 10MWh.
There are two obstacles to Tesla Energy. First the price, made worse by a falling Australian dollar, will make the devices affordable only to the most affluent households as the income recession rolls on. And of course, legislative barriers.
You can bet every dollar left after paying your exorbitant power bill that the status quo energy providers, most of whom rely upon good ole cheap coal, will ensure their bought and paid for LNP benefactors introduce stringent requirements to restrict the roll out of Tesla Energy.
I for one welcome our new energy overlord and will be looking to get a unit or three myself. Getting off a gold plated, coal fire powered grid and utilising the almost unlimited power above this sundrenched land makes perfect sense along with mandatory installation on all and every new house built.
Its a pity we don’t have a manufacturing industry left that could license build Powerwalls – like, say an automotive plant – or indeed a culture supported by government and business that could have come up with the idea in the first place.
Because this is the future of power production and storage. And we’ve missed the boat.