When Telsa Inc decided to create its electric car it created arguably the best battery on the market. Now the technology world is watching closely to see what Telsa will unveil next.
As houses all over the US switch to solar the aging power grid structure is struggling to hold up. The grid was originally designed to distribute power and, quite frankly, is ill equipped to have power pumped back into it via homes. A reliable battery that can store this power for homes to use at a later date has been needed for awhile now and Telsa has the answer.
In fact their revolutionary battery designed to store this ‘peak load saving’ is already on the market and is installed in over 400 locations around the US, servicing large buildings such as Walmarts. The issue is the price.
Currently, Tesla’s batteries cost about about $300 per kWh, which is comparable to the market rate the industry expected for 2020 – a phenomenal achievement in itself.
What we are all waiting (and hoping) for is the announcement of a battery that the majority of houses with solar – and who will install solar in the future – can afford. This could effectively mean that houses will be powered completely separately from the grid.
It may not be all bad news for the traditional power companies. On the 30th of April Tesla will be announcing a “utility scale battery”. Speculation is rife about what this will be, it may be a battery for utility companies to use to handle the extra power pumped back into the grid.
Or it could be something completely different. With Tesla all we know is to expect innovation. Exciting times ahead!
Please, stop thinking you can step out of the grid like that, it’s not that easy.
Look, the sunniest places in the US like Los Angeles, CA and Phoenix, AZ receives around 225 W/m² of solar energy in one day.
Factoring solar panel efficiency of say 20% and capacity factor of 19% (capacity factor in AZ), you get only 8.55 W/m² of solar power in one day.
According to the EIA, the Arizona average electricity consumption is around 14000 kWh per year or 39 kWh per day so this gives an average power of 1625 W per day.
Thus to generate this amount of power, you need 190 m² of prime roof exposed to the right direction.
Not a lot of people have that and that’s living day by day, what do you do when the sky is cloudy because your battery will be depleted (it stores what the panels can give and that’s only one day worth of power).
You have no power and you end up lighting your house with candles, so most people will stay connected to the grid for the benefits it offers (power on demand and on cloudy days).
I completely agree! This could just open up the possibility for more to go off the grid it they wanted to 🙂