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Tesla Energy teams up with local distributor Energy Locals for the official launch of the second phase of its virtual power plant project in South Australia, with high hopes of delivering the 250 MW initially promised.
The partnership between Tesla and Energy Locals, which will make its first entry into South Australia and will act as a retailer for the 1,000 Tesla batteries and rooftop solar installation that will be installed as part of this second phase of the project. plan, was announced Wednesday by the Minister of Energy, Dan van Holst Pellekaan.
Ironically, Tesla's VPP was unveiled by the previous Labor government and initially sacked by new Liberal Prime Minister Steve Marshall after his election victory in March, as he was supportive of a plan providing for $ 100 million cuts for storing households in 40,000 households.
The plan, which has since been finalized with Clean Energy Finance Corporation's $ 100 million low-interest loans, has enabled three battery storage developers – Sonnen, Alpha-ESS and Eguana Technologies – to put in place manufacturing or badembly operations in the state.
There is now a chance that both regimes will materialize. Adrian Merrick, CEO of Energy Locals, told RenewEconomy that if the second phase of 1,000 installations was successful and the funds were available, he wanted to move on to the third phase, which initially targeted 50,000 homes and a capacity of 250 MW.
The Tesla program is focused on low-income housing and the 1,000 properties to receive the 5 kW of rooftop solar energy located below Housing SA. They will pay a reduced rate for their electricity to the local energy sections.
"If we can pbad the second step … we would be interested in the third step," says Merrick, adding that such a distributed power source would be an important addition to network security and lower prices .
However, one of the parties that is not satisfied with VPP's proposal is Adelaide solar panel manufacturer Tindo Solar, who has missed the solar component. The only Australian solar power manufacturer said earlier this year that the VPP would supply half solar energy from its local content, bringing production to 4 MW.
However, Glenn Morelli said he was informed by Tesla last week that he had missed the call for bids, in favor of less expensive modules. The government's press conference brought together 270-watt panels from JA Solar. Morelli says the initial offer had specified a minimum of 300 watts.
"These types of modules are obsolete and now they are pouring them into social housing for profit," Morelli said. "We are very disappointed, this is not a good deal for the public." He also said that he was also disappointed that the state government allowed this to happen.
A spokesman for Tesla, who recently raised prices on Powerwall battery units 2, said in a statement by e-mail: "All suppliers are appointed in confidence. We have named the most successful and efficient companies, evaluated according to various criteria through a competitive process, in order to provide the best customer experience.
Minister van Holst Pellekaan said in a statement that the VVP would provide cheaper electricity to some of the most disadvantaged households in South Australia and would strengthen the reliability of the state power grid. .
"We are working hard with Tesla to realize their VPP vision in order to solve the problem of high household bills and to welcome Energy Locals into the AS as a newcomer. retailer to help stimulate competition, "he said.
"We have made South Australia the global capital of domestic batteries through our household battery program that has attracted three battery manufacturers to South Australia and through the VPP."
The results of the first 100 batteries demonstrate the success of the concept: households saw their network consumption reduced by more than 70%, which reduced electricity bills.
The minister confirmed that, subject to the success of the second phase of these 1,000 systems and the possibility of securing private financing, the number of homes could reach 50,000. "It would act from a 250 MW virtual plant and would complement the state government's plan to provide cleaner, affordable and reliable energy, "the statement said.
Merrick said the project would provide lower prices to customers and give them more control over their energy consumption. "We are proud to create new competition for customers with cheaper and cleaner energy," said Merrick.
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