Tesla launches phase 3 of its virtual power plant, soon 4,000 homes will be connected with Powerwall

[Finishline42]

South Austrialia is a prime canidate for this program as they average $.36 per kWh.
https://www.canstarblue.com.au/electricity/electricity-costs-kwh/

Tesla is launching phase 3 of its massive virtual power plant in South Australia and confirmed that soon almost 4,000 homes with Powerwalls and solar will be connected to the system.

A virtual power plant consists of connecting several small distributed energy assets, like residential solar panel systems and home battery packs, and use them together to provide larger grid services.

With its Powerwall being a popular home energy storage system, Tesla has been an early adopter of the concept and planned to deploy it on a large scale in South Australia.

The project’s origin story is interesting.

It came around after Elon Musk visited South Australia following the launch of its giant battery system in the state.

Musk gave an interview during which he was informed of the significant hardship that Australia’s high electricity prices are putting on low-income families.

The region suffers from a very unstable grid and electricity costs are so high that some families have to decide between keeping the lights on or going hungry.

Visibly affected by the issue, Musk vowed that Tesla would “work harder” to help solve the problem.

A few months later, Tesla announced that it reached a deal with the South Australian government to install solar arrays and Powerwalls on up to 50,000 homes.

The deal was jeopardized after a new government was elected in the state a few weeks later, but they have since come around and confirmed that they will be moving forward with Tesla’s initiative as long as it is financed successfully.

A few months later, in July of 2018, Tesla deployed the first 100 Powerwalls with solar for the new virtual power plant and focused on reducing the cost of electricity for low-income households.

By the end of the year, the project moved to its second phase and Tesla started deploying 1,000 more systems as part of the virtual power plant.

While only a fraction of the total planned capacity of the virtual power plant has been deployed, they already started testing some grid services with the current system.

Earlier this year, the Australian Energy Market Operator, the agency behind the project, has released an in-depth insight report on the virtual power plant and it showed promising results to stabilize the grid while lowering electricity costs for participants.

Report at this link - https://electrek.co/2020/04/07/tesla-virtual-power-plant-powerwall-report/

Tesla is now Moving to Phase 3
Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s chairwoman who also happens to be Australian, announced that Tesla is moving to phase 3 of its virtual power plant:

“Tesla is taking the next step towards accelerating Australia’s transition to sustainable energy with the launch of phase three of the South Australia Virtual Power Plant (SA VPP), growing the program towards 50,000 South Australian homes”

Phase 3 will add another 3,000 homes to the system.

Denholm added:

“A growing number of Housing SA homes – soon to be 4000 – as well as private households via the Tesla Energy Plan are connected to the SA VPP and benefiting from the lowest priced electricity rate in the state while also contributing to a more resilient grid.”

Tesla is going to pay $18 million to deploy the battery and solar systems in phase 3.

The households will receive the systems at no cost and will pay for the electricity from them at a rate more than 20% lower than from the grid.

The South Australian government is contributing $10 million along with $8.2 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and a $30 million loan support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

The goal remain to eventually have 50,000 homes with Powerwalls and solar connected to the virtual power plant.

[samnsara]

1. i lived in a county where power was 5 cents pkh...my bill was never over 50$

..i ran ac all summer and heat all winter. It was wonderful! If the gvnt wants to give people a bonus, tax cut..whatever they want to call it...give us cheap power!

I live in another county now and my power is at least 100$ more per month..and I have propane heat and only window ac for cooling.

[Finishline42]

2. It's the little things that mean the most but...

Nobody respects cheap electricity. It's when it gets expensive that people and companies find ways to use it more efficiently.

I think a big part of our problem is how much we waste.

BTW, my connection fees for gas and electric have gone from $5 and $8.50 in 2008 to $14.40 and $20.80 (they started charging by the day). Very difficult for me to have a $50 bill.

The South Austrialia example is an easy fix for Tesla. That's really expensive electricity. By giving the systems free of charge they also have access to the power stored in the Powerwalls. That power can be used to stabilize their grid (seems that's a problem there) and sell to the grid during peak demand - usually when the a/c load is the highest and when their PV panels are producing the maximum.

[progree]

3. "My connection fees ... $5 to $14.40" etc. They started putting all kinds of special taxes

on my electric bill and gas bill ...

Used to be $0 of those ten years ago, but now is $6.00/mo on my electric bill and $6.00/mo on my gas bill, for a total of $12/mo = $144/year. To pay for special county road projects and the like.

This is in addition to sales taxes that are charged on all items one buys except food and prescription medicine in Minnesota (that part is fair enough).

I know some people are going to crap all over me for whining about taxes and making RW talking points and REAL progressives are happy to pay taxes because blah blah blah, and besides $144/year isn't all that much and blah blah

OK, I get it. But it's a tax of a certain dollar amount per household is almost equivalent to a head tax. Regardless of the size/value of the house. Regardless of a person's income or circumstances. It's the most regressive tax imaginable. Rich, poor, crap house, mansion, fixed income 90 year old or Jeff Bezos, it's the same amount.

It makes property taxes (which are based on value of the property and usually have some adjustments for income) and sales taxes (which are based on the amount you buy -- poor people buy less and therefore pay less tax) look hyper-progressive by contrast (they are both regressive, just less so than head taxes and fixed dollar household taxes).

These special projects used to be all funded by property taxes and sales taxes -- regressive but less so. Maybe with an assist from progressive income taxes.

But too many Democrats love taxes and don't care at all how regressive they are. That's an unimportant detail in a less-than-perfect world to them. And the Republicans go along with them for funding necessary projects because of their excessively cruel nature as being the meanest of all possible taxes.

As for the amount - $144/year -- that's just the nose under the camel's tent. Remember it was $0 like ten years ago. And it did creep up -- first it was $2/mo/bill. Then $4. Now $6.

[Finishline42]

5. The other aspects of those connection fees increasing

On a similar theme to yours - it's the same on a 500 sq ft apt and a 5,000+ sq st mansion. It really should be broken down into classes. Just imagine the money made in a large apartment complex. Hundreds of meters packed together vs a large house. The utility company claims its based on the cost to maintain the grid.

The other part is by increasing fees they keep the kWh cost artificially suppressed. This undercuts conservation and PV investment by customers.

I'm paying just over $400 a year in connection fees.

[hunter]

4. Soon to be tons of toxic electronic waste with a half life of forever.

Technology such as this is not going to magically displace Australia's fossil fuel industry.

To quit fossil fuels we have to quit fossil fuels. If we do quit fossil fuels we will soon discover solar panels, wind, and batteries will not support the lifestyles many affluent people now enjoy.

Current renewable energy schemes are not sustainable without large inputs of fossil fuel energy in manufacturing, recycling, and as "backup power" when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine.

A vegetarian urban lifestyle without a car will have a much smaller environmental footprint than some 3,000 square foot house with central air conditioning, a power wall, solar panels, and a Tesla in the driveway.