Australia will be one of the first countries to receive shipments of Tesla’s Powerwall, the lithium ion battery designed to help homes store energy generated from rooftop solar panels, after the company confirmed the country was now one of its “core-markets”. 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. The battery is said to be getting released by the end of the year.
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The take-up of solar energy in Australia explains in part the reported 6.7 per cent decline in electricity demand from traditional power utilities since 2010, despite the national economy growing by nine per cent during the same period. For instance, AGL Energy Limited launched a battery storage device for the Australian market in earlier in May.
These partners haven’t yet been announced.
Tesla is also planning to commence shipping of its heavy duty 500 KWh and 10 MWh batteries for commercial use, but the company has not yet announced anything related to that. The battery storage device however could be used in a home without solar PV. WA’s government-owned Synergy power provider banned battery storage from any new rooftop solar installations.
This fight is already happening. Local suppliers in Australia will distribute the Powerwall to various consumers in the country. All they do is provide the potential for users to monitor, adjust and level out their power consumption, reducing the need for peak power generation on hot summer’s days and cold winter’s days.
The Powerwall aims to fix that by keeping generated power at the home rather than selling it off to the grid. Reposit announced in May that its technology would be integrated with the Tesla battery storage unit. What Powerwall offers is the opportunity for an average household to lower its grid energy reliance during those morning and evening peaks when the grid is busy and expensive and the sun isn’t out. “Whereas in most of the US you just have a meter that’s ticking over”.
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Maybe when that happens, the extortionate fixed prices to stay connected to the grid might go down.
