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ARTICLE · 13 MARCH 2017

Tesla and energy storage might solve SAs electricity problems

Marque Lawyers
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The plan to use battery storage with solar power is a bit of a regulatory headache, if it is to be commercially viable.

AustraliaEnergy and Natural Resources
Kim Middleton
Kim Middleton
Liam Rogers
Liam Rogers
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On Friday Elon Musk and Lyndon Rive (a Tesla VP) claimed that energy storage could solve SA's electricity problems. Tesla is offering to install the 100MW of battery storage needed to prevent blackouts in SA within 100 days, if asked to do so. The rough cost of the batteries for such a project is around $200 million. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a marketing ploy (Tesla have just launched the Powerwall 2 in Australia). But another company, Zen Energy, are already looking at installing a 50-150MW battery storage farm in SA to support their large scale solar generation plans. So this isn't all puffery.

The plan is a bit of a regulatory headache though, if it is to be commercially viable. One of the main problems is that the market for the wholesale buying and selling of electricity is skewed in favour of fossil fuel generators, who lobby to maintain the current system. Specifically, the current spot market for electricity is structured so that

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