Elon Musk To Give Batteries To Thousands Of Homes in South Australia
Elon Musk's mission to fix South Australia's energy crisis is far from over as Tesla is set to give away batteries and solar panels to thousands of homes in the state. This is all thanks to a new power policy being pushed by the state's Labor Party spearheaded by Premier Jay Weatherill.
Weatherhill, with the help of Musk, has promised to give "free" solar panels and Tesla batteries to 50,000 homes in the state. The Labor premiere unveiled the deal last week which he expects will secure the party's victory in the March state elections.
Of course, the project isn't going to be absolutely free and be paid with a $2 million taxpayer-funded grant and $30 million loans to Tesla. The power generated by the solar panels and the batteries will also not be owned directly by the households but may be sold back to them via a retailer.
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Tesla hopes to accomplish this via what it calls a virtual power plant or VPP. It works pretty much like a peer-to-peer system where the idea is that by sharing surplus energy produced by rooftop solar panels when not being used, all consumers can benefit. This is all part of Musk's grand plan to power the world through solar power and batteries.
The key to creating such an innovative system are smart meters and other clever technology that can determine which homes are producing surplus and where that excess power can be stored or consumed. The scheme will see each participating South Australian home equipped with a 5kw solar system paired with a 5kw/15kwh Tesla Powerwall 2 battery.
The first batch of these solar panel battery equipment will be installed on the rooftops of 25,000 SA Housing Trust properties owned by the SA Government. While the homeowners will not be able to enjoy the zero-cost energy, they will be able to buy energy at a discounted rate via an electricity retailer that will be set up to run the scheme.
