Tesla to give solar panels and batteries to 50,000 South Australian homes - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote]At least 50,000 homes in SA will be given solar panels and batteries in a scheme by Elon Musk's Tesla to build the world's largest virtual power plant, slashing household power bills in the process. Under the scheme unveiled by the SA Government, solar systems and batteries will be supplied and installed free of charge. The cost of the project will be financed through the sale of electricity, generated by the panels, in what Premier Jay Weatherill said would be the largest project of its kind. The Government will this week issue an expression of interest for a retailer to deliver the program, with the intention of bringing additional competition to the market. The retailer will have the right to tap output of the household batteries and solar panels to supply power into the grid.[/quote] [url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-04/elon-musk-tesla-to-give-solar-panels-batteries-to-sa-homes/9394352[/url] Government very much involved, but I don't think it's too politically involved so I posted it here

Please bring some to South East Queensland

I can't be the only one who's worried Tesla's doing too much shit at once. I'm no master of management but surely a company throwing its hands into this many different risky projects cannot be healthy.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;53106351]I can't be the only one who's worried Tesla's doing too much shit at once. I'm no master of management but surely a company throwing its hands into this many different risky projects cannot be healthy.[/QUOTE] I think they're in the position where they either catch up in terms of budget and expansiveness as others by aggressively spreading Tesla everywhere, or they will get outproduced by a larger company and die. They're a step ahead now that they're the largest lithium-ion battery producer of the world, but other companies/countries are wanting to catch up.

Hilarious. I have enormous respect for what Musk is doing with SpaceX, but his Solar City stuff is nuts. At my previous job we did the analysis for storage in SA and batteries fell flat, and that was assuming the far lower cost centralised storage. Distributed is going to be even more expensive.

[QUOTE=download;53106405]Hilarious. I have enormous respect for what Musk is doing with SpaceX, but his Solar City stuff is nuts. At my previous job we did the analysis for storage in SA and batteries fell flat, and that was assuming the far lower cost centralised storage. Distributed is going to be even more expensive.[/QUOTE] It's hardly the same thing for a government project though. If the government is paying for it, gets the feed in tariff money, and can tap the batteries whenever they want then it's essentially just decentralising power generation, with the ability for them to call on 250MW whenever they feel like it, within milliseconds.

[QUOTE=download;53106405]Hilarious. I have enormous respect for what Musk is doing with SpaceX, but his Solar City stuff is nuts. At my previous job we did the analysis for storage in SA and batteries fell flat, and that was assuming the far lower cost centralised storage. Distributed is going to be even more expensive.[/QUOTE] Download I know you got your reasons but you always seem to have a real hardon against solar :v:

[QUOTE=Morgen;53106549]It's hardly the same thing for a government project though. If the government is paying for it, gets the feed in tariff money, and can tap the batteries whenever they want then it's essentially just decentralising power generation, with the ability for them to call on 250MW whenever they feel like it, within milliseconds.[/QUOTE] "Hardly the same" you mean it's not financially viable at all and it's another SAGivernment boondoggle to make up for their gross mismanagement of my State's electricity supply. [editline]4th February 2018[/editline] [QUOTE=Whomobile;53106650]Download I know you got your reasons but you always seem to have a real hardon against solar :v:[/QUOTE] I have a real hardon against them fucking up the price if electricity so much it's destroyed SA industry.

[QUOTE=download;53106658]"Hardly the same" you mean it's not financially viable at all and it's another SAGivernment boondoggle to make up for their gross mismanagement of my State's electricity supply. [editline]4th February 2018[/editline] I have a real hardon against them fucking up the price if electricity so much it's destroyed SA industry.[/QUOTE] That's entirely the point of the batteries? You usually do much better posts than this. If they are only spending $32mn on this it seems pretty good for adding solar, and 250MW / 675 MWh of storage.

[QUOTE=Morgen;53106815]That's entirely the point of the batteries? You usually do much better posts than this. If they are only spending $32mn on this it seems pretty good for adding solar, and 250MW / 675 MWh of storage.[/QUOTE] It's not $32m, they're subsidising it to the tune of $32m. The rest of it will be "through the sale of electricity, generated by the panels" which is a fancy way of saying the cost is being covered by the government whenever (or more likely if) they ever see a return. And I didn't elaborate because I was posting on my phone instead of socialising at a family lunch.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;53106351]I can't be the only one who's worried Tesla's doing too much shit at once. I'm no master of management but surely a company throwing its hands into this many different risky projects cannot be healthy.[/QUOTE] The energy and vehicle teams operate largely independent of each other so they're not stretched quite as thin as you may think. Tesla is also finding that energy storage is a potential money printer (the Australia battery is making money coming and going - paid peaks of $1,000/mWh to charge at night, then sell the energy right back during the day) so their energy products could potentially yield a much larger cash flow considering their small margins on car sales. FalconKrunch is right. For Tesla it's expand or die.

[QUOTE=download;53106847]It's not $32m, they're subsidising it to the tune of $32m. The rest of it will be "through the sale of electricity, generated by the panels" which is a fancy way of saying the cost is being covered by the government whenever (or more likely if) they ever see a return. And I didn't elaborate because I was posting on my phone instead of socialising at a family lunch.[/QUOTE] It's basically the old Solar city model. They will probably just collect all the money from the electric that gets sold back to the grid. They are trialing this on low income homes, and getting a free 5kW solar array, and a Powerwall will save those households a lot of money, even if they don't get anything for the electric going back to the grid.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;53106351]I can't be the only one who's worried Tesla's doing too much shit at once. I'm no master of management but surely a company throwing its hands into this many different risky projects cannot be healthy.[/QUOTE] Even if they miss deadlines in some other places, they're taking advantage of the tempo and making sure they put forth a new project to wow people or achieve results in the meantime to keep investors happy. Tesla's stock is sky high and honestly way, way overpriced, but it is because of moves like this that it stays that high, which funds the constant projects they have. It's kind of like a perpetual motion machine. [editline]4th February 2018[/editline] The largest and most powerful companies on the planet are tech companies and they all came into power relatively overnight compared to their older peers like the oil companies. Every investor in the world is trying to catch the next Apple or Facebook so they go balls deep into tech companies like Tesla. If Tesla's plan does come to fruition, they'll be a giant behemoth just like Amazon is right now one day. I really doubt that but that's the bet lots of investors are rolling on.

I can't imagine Tesla is actually making any money

[QUOTE=Whomobile;53106650]Download I know you got your reasons but you always seem to have a real hardon against solar :v:[/QUOTE] Based on the posts I've seen from him he's very pro-nuclear to the point where he sometimes shoehorn the topic into discussions. No offense Download but you can be a bit stubborn with your views sometimes.