Solar Storage Archives - Darryn Van Hout

Tesla Motors new solar batteries exceed all expectations

Darryn Van Hout — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 02:00:56 +0000

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk was heard loud and clear in early May as he announced the initial response to his company’s latest product line of solar batteries. Intended for residential use, consumer interest in the product has surpassed expectations.

Tesla Motors is constructing a 5 million square foot solar battery factory expected to open in 2016 which, even with its significant size, may still not even be big enough to accommodate for the high demand if the initial figures are anything to go by.

Australia has the highest penetration of sunlight per capita in the world, making the potential impact of solar storage like the Tesla Powerwall a promising prospect for the Australian energy industry.

Australian energy retailers, like Natural Solar, are already expressing their strong support for Tesla’s innovation in solar storage. The systems are expected to complement existing solar installations and improve the Australian economy in a number of fields.

Natural Solar Director Chris Williams says that not only will the Tesla Energy battery technology benefit solar installers like Natural Solar, it will equally benefit consumers through the significant energy savings and asset growth over time.

If Tesla Energy’s recent announcements weren’t enough to excited the Australian electricity market, generous government rebates are also in place to assist households of lower income levels to access the technology.

Natural Solar’s Chris Williams says that the combination of Tesla’s technology and government incentives offers Australian retailers and consumers a win win solution to solar storage.

Tesla Motors new solar battery surpasses all expectation

According to Bloomberg Business, several days after Tesla Motors new solar battery announcement, $800 million worth of the products were on reserved.

Though the figures look really impressive, it must be said that reservations do not necessarily mean guaranteed sales at the end of the day. This is more so the case for the home batteries which are sold under the Powerwall brand.

Anybody is able to reserve one of Tesla Motors new solar batteries with no deposit required and absolutely no commitment to go through with the sale. However, this is unique to the solar battery and does not extend to the Tesla Motors vehicle line, whereby a down payment of up to $5,000 is required to secure the purchase.

Demand of the Tesla Motors solar battery predicted to outstrip supply

With $800 million worth of batteries already reserved, it would be impossible for Tesla Motors to supply more batteries, as they are predicted to be out of stock until mid-2016. The new $5 billion plant currently under construction would easily be at full capacity in the manufacturing of these batteries according to Musk. Two-thirds of its production capacity output was supposed to be used for manufacturing electric vehicle batteries, but Musk has considered making the already humongous factory even bigger.

Many analysts are not sure how to value such new business. Receiving an accurate estimate may even take a year or more according to Morgan Stanley. Baird & Co and Morgan Stanley both do not currently include battery product valuations from Tesla Motors.

JPMorgan Chase’s Ryan Brinkman has valued the new business at $15 a share or in other terms at around $1.9 billion.

Tesla Motors will make little if any profit from these early battery storage sales. Musk himself has admitted that gross margins will not be high but he is sure that it will rise to around 20% once production is in full effect at the new plant.

As energy costs rise, consumers turn to cheaper solar battery alternatives

Consumer interest in solar batteries is at an all-time high and Tesla Motors have managed to develop a well-rounded product. The company itself has never put a figure on their bookings thus far, so Bloomberg used the following information in order to arrive at the $800 million estimate:

According to Musk, the batteries have been created to pair in perfectly with rooftop solar systems which had a 38, 000 product reservations.
Many customers reserved more than one battery, with the average order per client between 1-1.5. Musk has claimed that close to 50,000 – 60,000 were booked. Bloomberg set the amount at 55, 000.
There are two designs to select from with varying prices attached. One at $3, 000 and the other at $3, 500. If the difference is halved, making it $250 a unit, then the total Powerwall orders amount to $178.8 million thus far.

Powerpack created as the commercial version of the residential Powerwall

Tesla is working on a product called the Powerpack with companies such as Amazon and Target as well as certain utilities. As most interest for the new storage batteries are from the utilities and bigger companies, the Powerpack comes in a 100 kilowatt an hour block of batteries to aid in commercial power storage.

Musk has stated that 2,500 bookings for the commercial battery storage products has been received. These all come with a minimum of 10 Powerpacks. Thus 25, 000 units equal 2.5 million kilowatts an hour.
A Powerpack is priced at $250 per kilowatt an hour.
Thus the total Powerpacks booked are $625 million.

The sum of $625M and $178.8M resulting in Tesla Motors’ predicted total of $803.8M worth of battery reservations.

Khobi Brooklyn, a Tesla spokesperson has even stated that Bloomberg’s stats look accurate. “In the coming months, we will work with our distribution partners to ensure that customers are well informed and know what to expect when deliveries start this summer,” she added.

Photo courtesy of JD Lasica on Flickr

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Tesla Powerwall To Hit Australian Shores Before Christmas

Darryn Van Hout — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 00:48:50 +0000

It looks like Christmas has come early for Australian solar customers following Tesla’s announcement that its Powerwall battery storage system will be available in Australia before Christmas this year. Tesla Powerwall price This past week, the electric vehicle giant announced a number of Australian solar installers that will be distributing the Powerwall. These companies include energy retail giant Origin Energy as well as Simply Energy, Natural Solar, and CSR Solar, to name a few.

Australia is one of two countries outside of the US to be supplied with the revolutionary Powerwall systems, with Tesla’s interest due to Australia’s high per capita penetration of rooftop solar technology (highest in the world).

Natural Solar managing director Chris Williams said a partnership with Tesla has been developing for some time. Williams added that Tesla’s interest in the Sydney-based company is thanks to Natural Solar’s business model, which specifically caters to storage, and the Powerwall in particular.

Williams said Natural Solar will be offering a full solution of 20 x 250 watt solar panels, an inverter, and Powerwall installed for about $15,000. Adding a Powerwall to an existing solar installation would cost about $9,500. A Powerwall and inverter without installation would cost about $1000 to $1200 less.

On the incredible hype surrounding solar storage technology and the release of the Tesla Powerwall, Williams said that he sees this as an opportunity “to educate the public on this ground-breaking technology.”

Australia A Key Market For Tesla Expansion

After being named by Tesla Energy as one of the first key markets, the future of solar power storage is looking bright for the Australian renewable energy industry.

The Powerwall systems will be available to Australian buyers in two sizes — a 7kWh system designed for residential use and connected to a solar system, and a 10 kWh system for long-term backup purposes.

The systems have been predicted to cost around US$3000 for the 7kWh system and US$3500 for the 10kWh. Origin Energy has snagged the golden ticket as official supplier of the Tesla Powerwall systems.

The company’s Head of Energy Markets, Frank Calabria, described the collaboration as a move to “provide households with greater control over their energy use than ever before.”

When Elon Musk announced Tesla’s production of lithium-ion Powerwall systems in April of this year, reservations for the systems went through the roof. Tesla has reported taking nearly US$1 billion in reservations for the batteries since the announcement of the technology. If all current Powerwall reservations are to convert to sales, Tesla will make history with its battery range becoming one of the most popular product launches in American history.

Surprisingly, Tesla is not the first company to develop sophisticated battery storage technology. Tesla’s technology is also open source, meaning anyone is able to replicate it. Many are asking why then is Tesla still taking its time with releasing its systems to the market?

One would assume that, with replicable technology, competitors would have taken advantage of Tesla’s open source software by now. Companies like Juicebox, Sunverge, Greencharge Networks, AES Corp, and Stem, to name a few, are established as well as emerging Tesla competitors and have been producing similar storage technologies alongside the electric car giant. So, considering these large competitors, the question remains: why does everyone want a Tesla battery system and not any other brand?

The Tesla Powerwall can store energy both from the grid and from renewable energy sources like solar. It’s compact, rechargeable, and ideal for small-scale use in homes and businesses — however, so too are Juicebox, Sunverge, Greencharge Networks, and Stem systems. The answer comes down to both price and reputation. Although there are many models that match the performance and capacity of the Tesla Powerwall, what has customers hanging out for the Tesla battery system appears to be similar to the Apple effect of market dominance.

The battery storage market is a complex one, with elements of cycle lifespan and capacity equally as important a consideration as price. As an initial indication, however, price is useful starting point for many buyers. While a number of these competitors are yet to release concrete price points for their storage systems, it can already be seen that Tesla is at an advantage in terms of price per kWh of storage.

Solar Storage System Prices Per kWh

Tesla: US $350 per kWh
Juicebox: US $1,151 per kWh
AES Corp: US $1,000 per kWh

Customers are not just choosing Tesla Energy as their preferred battery manufacturer, they are happily waiting for the company, which is notoriously unreliable with its timeframes, to release its batteries despite similar technologies being already available on the market. Apple is often described as a monopolistic competitor in the technology market, and it can be seen that Tesla’s position in the energy storage industry is following the same path.

Elon Musk has maintained an even more competitive advantage by commissioning a US$5 billion, 10-million-square-foot “Gigafactory” in Reno, Nevada, that hopes to keep costs considerably lower than competitors. Despite the issue of price, consumers appear to be hanging out for Tesla’s Powerall release regardless of what is already on offer, though.

The Future of Energy Storage

No matter what company is dominating sales, one thing is certain — the global energy storage industry is booming. This comes down to three dynamics working together:

The price of energy storage technology is plummeting
Cheaper storage is on the verge of massively expanding the market
A growing market and increased competition further drives down the cost of energy storage

With governments the world over pushing for increased renewable energy capacity in an attempt to limit carbon emissions, the time has never been better for energy storage solutions. According to research from research firm IHS CERA, the global energy-storage industry, which was valued at just US$200 million in 2012 is predicted to grow to US$19 billion by 2017.

Another US study saw energy storage grow 40% to US$128 million in the last year alone, with energy storage installations expected to triple in 2015. Interestingly, even more progressive technologies are already emerging that could threaten the innovative lithium-ion battery, making the future of battery storage and energy production technology uncertain for companies with large investments, like Tesla.

This article was written for and originally posted on CleanTechnica on the 18th December 2015 by Darryn Van Hout.

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The Past, Present, & Future Of Electricity In Australia

Darryn Van Hout — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 02:33:43 +0000

Let’s be honest, the cost of electricity has made a huge contribution to the high cost of living and the difficulties Australian families experience in balancing their family budgets. According to a survey carried out by Ernst & Young in October 2014, a third of all Australians missed a payment for their electricity usage in the last 12 months.

The fact of the matter is that Australians are hurting and power bills should no longer be a political opportunity for politicians to win votes but a serious concern necessitating realistically lasting solutions. In essence, not even the compensation for households that are least able to afford the rising power prices can have a long-term impact.

In the past five years, electricity prices have skyrocketed by as much as 40 per cent in some states of Australia. When you compare these statistics with other countries like Canada, the United States, the European Union, and Japan, Australian electricity bills are way too high as reported by the Energy Users Association of Australia (EUAA), something the Federal Government blatantly acknowledged but has failed to address.

Electricity prices in Australia over the past 25 years.

The significantly high power prices are generally considered to be fueled by three key factors: deregulation, infrastructure costs/network charges, and introduction of the carbon tax. Despite government efforts to mitigate the high cost of living pressures, electricity bills keep increasing. The good news is that the most sustainable solution to lowering power bills in Australia ultimately lies on the 1.3 million Australian household rooftops. One of Australia’s leading consumer care websites, Australian Solar Quotes*, reports that despite the withdrawal of political support, the uptake of rooftop solar panels is continuing to rise, even in the current economic climate. Is the trend a result of Australia’s earlier solar boom or do the good folks of Australia have little choice but to resort to solar power as an alternative?

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five Australian households uses solar energy to power their electrical appliances. Even though the cost savings for investment in solar power are clear, this figure is still surprisingly low considering that the installation of a solar power system is a sure way to reduce a householder’s dependence on the grid with a zero power bill as a real possibility with the latest technological advances.

As mentioned, there are three main factors that result in high electricity prices in Australia. The first is network charges, which in fact account for up to 51% of the total cost of electricity. Next is the cost of transporting the high-priced, premium electricity across poles and wires. Lastly, let’s not forget the subsidies paid by Australians to support renewable energy also contribute to the high power costs. The introduction of the now scrapped carbon tax also had a significant impact on power prices, coming in at 9%.

Fierce competition among energy suppliers forms a vital part of the answer. Many of these companies are global, operating in export markets, and if their electricity prices are forced up, the consequences would be far reaching in terms of loss of jobs, investment, etc.

The federal government acknowledges that power bills are likely to keep rising due to the huge investments needed to maintain network infrastructure. This means that ever-rising electricity prices will still hurt Australian households and impact negatively on businesses.

How Solar Storage Next-Gen Technology is Revolutionizing the Energy Market

As the debate about the factors driving up power prices wages on, renewable energy product manufacturers are busy developing new technologies to drive down electricity prices. With the emergence of innovative solar energy solutions such as lithium-ion batteries, solar storage batteries are poised to dramatically reshape the energy industry in Australia.

A study commissioned by UBS, a world-leading investment bank, reveals that solar plus storage is an economically sustainable and low-risk solution for Australian households. For instance, if one million Australian households invest $20 billion in solar storage systems today, this would translate to enough capital for setting up a new LNG export plant.

The emergence of cost-competitive solar storage batteries such as Tesla’s new storage battery is a real revolution for the Australian electricity industry. This advanced battery storage system is poised to have a great impact on utilities, depending upon on how they react. If they embrace it as an opportunity to reduce high power prices, they can provide zero-down solar and battery storage installations to their consumers, thus pushing down costs for Australian households. On the other hand, they can view it as a threat and actively oppose this being launched in the Australian market.

The Tesla Powerwall has the potential to make a huge impact in the global energy industry and is indeed a timely innovation. The lithium-ion battery is one-of-a-kind. It’s designed to enable rechargeable energy storage at residential levels that can be used for load shifting, backing up power for use during an outage, and enabling self-consumption at peak times.

The solar storage battery by Tesla is a step forward for the Australian energy market. As the storage battery is a cheaper (inclusive of the foreign exchange and shipping) and highly efficient option compared to the existing solar power systems in the domestic market, it’s likely to significantly reduce dependence on the grid with a relatively quick payback period.

The new Powerwall from Tesla’s leading US-based energy technology company is an easy-to-handle wall-mounted solar storage unit which can hold a maximum of 10 kWh, delivered at an average of 2 kWh each day. The solution to the high power prices to Australian consumers lies in this innovative solar battery technology.

The price of a 10kWh weekly cycling backup storage system will be $US3,500 and $US3,000 is the price for a 7kWh daily cycling Powerwall. This excludes the cost of inverter (which typically comes with the solar panel system) and installation costs. Everything together is approximately US$500 per kWh, which is way below the existing industry cost which ranges between $US1,000 and $US1,250/kWh. Clearly, there’s great potential for dramatic storage battery cost reduction in coming years, just as the cost of solar panels has plunged in recent years.

The Tesla storage battery’s cost will ultimately deliver power for about $6-8 cents per kWh to any solar system for every Australian household. The combined cost of the rooftop solar and Tesla’s lithium-ion storage will therefore be much cheaper when compared to the coal-fired power delivered via the national grid.

With the new technology, eliminating grid dependence will become a reality for Australian households and high electricity costs will be a thing of the past. Solar + batteries have already been embraced in areas with high electricity prices like Hawaii. Although at the crossroads with incumbent utility companies, Tesla’s solar storage battery has a bright future in the Australian market.

The lithium-ion batteries will see more Australian households maximizing the amount of self-consumption. At the traditional end of power generation, the existing business models based on coal-fired power stations and huge networks of wires and poles will be seriously challenged.

Why Australian Households Should Invest in Tesla’s Solar Storage Battery

Solar + storage is particularly attractive in Australia due to its climate. The idea of generating one’s own electricity and storing it for use at a later time is attractive to Australian households. Solar, compared to other forms of power generation, is cost-effective and convenient with the only big constraint being the availability of adequate space for the panels.

The disadvantage of solar energy is that the sun reaches the panels for only a limited number of hours each day and solar power generation is inconsistent. The storage battery enables the power requirements and pattern of usage of the household to better match power generation.

Before the invention of Tesla’s lithium-ion storage battery, storage was relatively expensive and consumer unfriendly, mostly involving less efficient, heavy, lead-acid batteries requiring more space. However, lithium-ion batteries including Tesla’s PowerWall are changing that. With their costs likely to fall sharply in the near future, more and more Australian households will enjoy the unique features of these batteries:

Much lighter
Occupy less space
Discharged virtually at a constant voltage
Hold charge for extended periods of time

It’s worth noting that Australian households are likely to enjoy reduced power prices through Tesla’s new technology only if the federal government and other stakeholders in the energy industry scale up production of lithium-ion battery housings, energy monitoring, storage battery management systems, and integrated manufacturing of solar energy components including inverters. Whether they take up that challenge, only time will tell.

This article was originally posted on CleanTechnica.com

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