Tesla PowerWall

[Atomoa]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/tesla ... -1.3057488

The wall-mounted Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that can be used to store electricity in homes.

There are two models, a 7 kWh version that sells for $3,000 and a 10 kWh one for $3,500. However, those costs do not include installation. Up to nine of them can be used together.

Musk also said there is a commercial version called the Powerpack that delivers 100 kWh for use by electric utilities and companies. He said the unit is "infinitely scaleable" and one utility wants a 250 megawatt-hour facility which would consist of 2,500 Powerpacks.

2 billion batteries and the entire world could be run on stored sunlight.

I'm impressed with version one so far and the technology will only improve. Thoughts?

[Captain Awesome]

This is kinda cool. Would be interesting to find out what is the loss rate on batteries.

With major electricity companies moving towards time of day billing, I wonder if these can be used to store your day worth of electricity at night when rates are super cheap and run off them during the day. So, even if you don't have solar, you can still benefit from them.

[Atomoa]

That's the idea. The batteries offset peak demand times. The presentation made me cringe via "Silicone Valley-esque" but it has some info on the applications of the product. Also reduces the huge cost of constantly rebuilding infrastructure under time constraints after storms and disasters. No more fragile grid.

As this seems to be a standardized product I believe you could just hardwire it in and charge during the night without solar. This may push the demand for solar technology and with all technologies it will just grow exponentially.

It's interesting. Lot's of places globally without power which can now "leapfrog" into reliable solar without building grids, power plants and cutting through the bush putting lines up. He just proposed that the world could just go off grid.

[Woodenhead]

I love it. Would make home solar power much more viable. Now, if they could just perfect aluminum-ion batteries, we'd really be rocking...

[Captain Awesome]

That would be a cool application of this product then. This can truly benefit everybody, including energy companies.

I know BC Hydro is constantly under pressure to buy expensive electricity during peak times on the open market, and they can't give it away during off-peak times. If people started installing these things at their houses that would solve the problem, and make the grid more reliable. I don't see going off-grid as a huge bonus unless it's a cabin, but even solving this peak/off-peak problem would be a huge accomplishment.

[I Think]

There is nothing to stop BC Hydro from installing mega batteries to act as peak period generators. The installed cost is lower than any generating station.

[Tacklewasher]

I love it. Would make home solar power much more viable. Now, if they could just perfect aluminum-ion batteries, we'd really be rocking...

This.

There is nothing earth-shattering about what Musk is doing as he is using current tech to do it. Until batteries improve (and the alum-ion looks interesting), this is nothing special.

[I Think]

Right there is nothing earth shaking about these batteries, except that the price is one third of the amount expected.
Looks like using them will cost about 2cents per KWH for the industrial users which makes building peak generating stations too expensive. It looks like they come with very sophisticated energy management systems which also is pretty unusual.
It is a game changer. Wind and solar all of a sudden become much more viable.

[maryjane48]

Tesla's Powerwall home battery system will be broadly available in Canada at the beginning of 2016, distributed by Toronto-based NRStor Inc. and Opus One Solutions Energy Corp.

The Powerwall is a lithium-ion, wall-mounted battery system that can be used by homeowners in power outages or to store solar power.

Tesla Powerwall: 5 things you need to know
NRStor to store Ontario electricity using new technology
There are two models, a 7 kWh version that sells for $3,000 US and a 10 kWh one for $3,500 US, not including installation.

The batteries are integrated into a smart grid which can draw on the system to keep fridges, heating or cooling systems and electronics running for several hours during a power outage.

NRStor also foresees using the technology to manage time-of-use billing costs by storing energy overnight when electricity prices are lower and using it during peak periods.

NRStor is an energy storage project developer headed by Annette Verschuren, a former president of Home Depot. Its projects include large and small-scale flywheel, compressed air and battery energy storage systems.

"This energy storage system will provide Canadians with the opportunity to find demonstrable efficiencies in their daily energy usage as well as ensuring access to energy when it is really needed," Verschuren said in a news release.

NRStor will be working with Opus One Solutions, a smart grid software engineering company. Pilot projects with Powerwall will be built this autumn.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk launched his venture into home batteries last week, saying he believed it could change the dynamics of the energy sector, by encouraging home owners to install solar panels and store their own power.

"Our goal here is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy," Musk told reporters as he launched the Powerwall.

Solar panels are getting cheaper with the price lower than some other forms of energy for remote communities and others with insecure access to the grid.

But the big problem is storage and Musk hopes to begin solving that problem with his Powerwall. Although the price is currently high, he plans to build a battery factory in Nevada, which could help bring down the cost of new generation lithium-ion batteries.


http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tesla-s ... -1.3061614

[Woodenhead]

It's not a new technology. What is new is the package. Still, there's a ways to go. Hopefully this helps the market grow and more businesses get in on this front, pushing the tech & lowering prices. That should be the biggest thing to come out of this, IMHO.

[Tacklewasher]

It's not a new technology. What is new is the package. Still, there's a ways to go. Hopefully this helps the market grow and more businesses get in on this front, pushing the tech & lowering prices. That should be the biggest thing to come out of this, IMHO.

I'm not getting excited until the aluminum batteries are out.

[maryjane48]

This.

There is nothing earth-shattering about what Musk is doing as he is using current tech to do it. Until batteries improve (and the alum-ion looks interesting), this is nothing special.

well when you invest in dirty old oil companies of course you will spout this nonsense , just like few the other brilliant minds around here that think fossil fuel is the way of the future lol

[Tacklewasher]

well when you invest in dirty old oil companies of course you will spout this nonsense , just like few the other brilliant minds around here that think fossil fuel is the way of the future lol

Not sure what you know about my investment strategies, or why you think you know anything at all, but you really did miss the point.

What Musk has done is packaged current technology in a nice, neat package. Contrast that to the promise of aluminum batteries
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/marc ... 33115.html to see what new tech will look like.

We are not there in terms of technology (batteries, wind, solar, etc.) to compete with fossil fuels for energy production. Nuclear and Hydro are there, but both have their drawbacks. Bottom line is power will be provided by the least cost method. If the is fossil fuels, then that is what it is. When wind/solar/tidal can be priced for grid parity, then fossil fuels will become obsolete.

[logicalview]

Lithium trumps aluminum.

[I Think]

Tackle,
New Fossil fuel, Nukes, dam generating plants are legacy projects and are allways subject to large cost over runs and late completion dates. Wind and Solar are scaleable and can be ramped up incrementally as required. Wind is the cheapest followed by
solar, and are much cheaper than any other new builds for electrical generation.

It is estimated that the net cost of Tessla mega batteries is 2 cents per KW. This makes installing large battery storage arrays, very cost efficient, much cheaper than building 'peak' generating stations. At some point the current Li batteries are going to be underpriced by competitors, probably aluminum iron or ion. People have been saying for years that Lead Acid batteries were not up to the job, and we should wait for the next generation of batteries, many vehicles are running daily on L/A batts, including one of mine. Sure I would love L/I batts or even better A/I, but for now L/A works for many.

As Li becomes obsolete you can count on the big players switching, but just as people used to wait before buying a computer, because onything in the store was "obsolete", the batteries we have today are pretty darned good, newer ones will be better.
No need to wait, they are already cost effective.