The Home Solar plus Energy Storage Revolution Is About to Begin
Home solar batteries from Tesla Motors, which could upset utilities as we know them. Billion dollar solar bonds from SolarCity, backstopped by banking bigshots.
Happy Earth Day!
After being artificially suppressed for decades, renewable energy developments have accelerated, with excellent timing. Earth Day brought mounting news via Bloomberg that Tesla’s anticipated home solar batteries, hinted at in March by an Elon Musk tweet, will be announced at the end of the month. But the truth is really that they have already arrived, beneath our noses, in about 300 California homes solarized by SolarCity, as well as 11 smart Wal-Marts.
On April 30, Tesla will unveil further details on its forthcoming line of residential and utility scale solar batteries, to the delight of greens looking to pile up cash while downsizing their carbon footprints. Utilities, whose electricity generation is America’s top source of greenhouse gas emissions, are certainly going to be watching — and counting too. They know, like Tesla and other cleantech titans on the come-up, that energy storage is going to be a billion dollar market, thanks to demand, incentives and inevitable climate changes. Simply wading into the home solar market has given Tesla access to $65 million in incentives, reportedly boosting its stock price, which has lately been on $200 autopilot, by another $70 per share.
Tesla’s partnership with SolarCity has proven as green: In honor of Earth Day, America’s panel installation leader activated a billion dollar solar fund, in partnership with Credit Suisse, to finance 300 megawatts of commercial projects over the next few years. Add that to the hundreds of millions that SolarCity has pulled in, from Goldman Sachs to Google, to accelerate its industry-beating residential and commercial installation pipeline, and you have two renewable energy titans that are taking Earth Day quite seriously.
But it’s not just them, and it’s not just beginning. As I wrote above (and elsewhere, everywhere), these exponential solarizations have been held back by an energy industry simply too used to doing the same dirty business for too long.
If Tesla’s home solar batteries — predicted by Thomas Edison way back in 1931 — are as user-friendly as its electric vehicles, then they could prove epochally influential. A more recent pre-Earth Day study from Rocky Mountain Institute prophesied that utilities could be up next for extinction, thanks to home solar plus energy storage. It’s going to be a bright, hot summer.
Tesla’s New Battery Could Solve One of Solar Power’s Biggest Problems
So far, specific details are thin on the new battery designed for home use that Tesla’s announcing next week. But just based on what we do know, it’s a pretty big deal. The quest for a good battery that can store home-generated power is kind of like the holy grail for a renewable energy future. This one product might change everything.
A New York Times article published earlier this week essentially sets up the problem that Tesla’s battery will solve. In Hawaii, 12 percent of homes have some kind of solar energy, by far the highest rate for any place in the US at the moment. In fact, that rate is growing too quickly—solar customers are dumping so much energy back onto the grid that they’re taxing the delicate and often aging infrastructure that was only designed to deliver power to homes. What’s happening in Hawaii is actually indicative of what’s going to be an issue everywhere as many cities start to see an increase in large-scale solar implementation: There’s going to be too much energy generated, and nowhere to put it.
There’s A Fight Brewing Over Who Profits From Solar Power
In the ongoing wars over solar energy, one power company is consistently painted as the archetypal, mustache-twirling nemesis of clean electricity: Arizona Public Service. So you might be surprised to learn that this same company is about to become a big new producer of rooftop solar power.
APS is an unlikely solar patron: In the summer of 2013, the Phoenix-area utility launched a campaign to weaken Arizona’s net metering rule, which requires utilities to buy the extra solar power their customers generate and provides a major incentive for homeowners to install rooftop panels. A few months later, APS admitted giving cash to two nonprofits that ran an anti-solar ad blitz in the state. Early this year, the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that a letter criticizing the solar industry’s business practices, sent by members of Congress to federal regulators, was originally authored by an employee of APS. And a couple weeks ago, APS asked state regulators to let the company quadruple the fees it tacks on to the monthly bills of solar-equipped homeowners.
Hawaii May Be Closer to Achieving a 100% Renewable Grid Than You Think
Hawaii is famously reliant on imported fossil fuels, for both electricity and transportation. But that’s changing rapidly as the state invests heavily in renewables.
Two new bills are now pending in the Hawaii legislature that would codify the 100 percent renewables goal statewide, up from the current mandate of 40 percent by 2030. HB 623 would require 70 percent renewables by 2040 and 100 percent by 2050. SB 715 would require 70 percent by 2035 and 100 percent by 2050, but this bill is apparently languishing now while HB 623 is still active. Both of these bills originally called for 100 percent renewables by 2040.
Can the state realistically achieve 100 percent renewables by then?
The Future of Solar Energy According to Tesla
The game-changer for clean energy (also known as Tesla – Elon Musk’s Company) is making waves in the industry of solar energy ever since they decided to make it their business.
In true Elon Musk fashion, he decided to get Tesla involved in the niche of solar energy in 2016 when he let the world know his interest in acquiring SolarCity. The result was quite shattering for the electric vehicle producer as the company’s value took a $3 billion hit. However, the deal went through and nowadays, solar panels produced by Tesla are powering an entire island inHawaii. Not to mention, Elon Musk is asked to solve energy crises all over the world.
But what exactly is Tesla preparing for the future?
Well, given Tesla’s vision on the future and the fact that it never released a product that is boring or following the current social norms, we should definitely expect great things! Still, for now, here are some of the products that will boggle your mind for the present moment.
The Solar Roof
Who wouldn’t want to get rid of complicated solar systems and forget about panels and other unworldly things? Well, Tesla did just that with their new solar roof made with solar tiles.
Of course, there are already grumpy businessmen and analysts that predict this product will be the one to put Tesla in the ground, but let’s fast forward over their opinion and enjoy the simplicity of this idea. The solar roof is elegant, looks quite good on all sorts of buildings, and is cheaper and more durable than traditional solar panels. So, you have two expenses merged into one that costs less and behaves better. Not to mention, the solar roof comes with an unlimited warranty!
The Powerwall
Since solar energy can’t be tamed, most homes with solar panels (or roofs) are also connected to the grid. This way, the energy they don’t use goes into the grid, and when the sun isn’t shining they use energy from the grid.
The idea would be quite OK if power companies wouldn’t completely bully solar energy users with close-to-nothing prices for what goes into the system and huge prices for the energy that goes out. To avoid this discrepancy and stop the frustration of many homeowners, Tesla created the Powerwall – high-end battery that stores solar energy and can be integrated with the solar roof.
Even better, the Powerwall can be mounted on a wall and it’s not bulky or unpleasant-looking. Still, there are some shortcomings when it comes to price (which is quite steep) and autonomy when there are several consecutive days without sunshine.
Tesla is currently working on reducing the prices and making the battery more reliable. However, if you live in a sunny climate, the Powerwall, coupled with the solar roof will save you a lot of energy money. Not to mention, reduce your carbon footprint.
Power the USA on Solar Energy
There’s no surprise that Elon Musk is an advocate for solar energy, as it’s no surprise that the automotive industry is fighting him. Right now, the biggest fight is in the US, where the oil industry is still powerful enough to block any attempts to make the switch.
Still, it seems that soon they’ll run out of motives as Tesla is already thinking about powering the entire United States of America with a solar farm that could be placed in a corner of the state of Utah. Furthermore, the solar industry is booming, growing faster than any other current industry in the country.
According to the US Department of Energy, if we would be able to meet as little as 27% of the nation’s energy demand with solar energy, we could prevent hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to the environment, lower healthcare costs dramatically, and reduce water scarcity.
For now, the only company that’s serious about this change is Tesla, but others will join once the ball is rolling. After all, the only reliable source of energy we have is the Sun – otherwise the Earth would be nothing more but a frozen, deserted planet.
In Conclusion
As you can see, Tesla started by addressing the individual consumer with products that solve the big frustrations we all have. The Electric Vehicle, the Solar Rooftop, and the Powerwall are all products designed to make your life easier and reduce the carbon footprint we leave on the environment.
But now is the moment to move on bigger and greater things like creating solutions for companies and even countries interested in going green. The solar energy is the only one that makes sense for the future (according to Elon) and we agree 100%.
We’re looking forward to a future where we will look back and think about the oil-powered industry the way we think about dinosaurs today.
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