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Category: Electricity Energy and Utilities / Alternative Energy / Electronics

Musk's 'bold offer' to halve Tesla's battery price 'blew up people's models'

Tuesday, 14 Mar 2017 11:14:30 | Justine Parker

Elon Musk says if Tesla cannot build the battery storage in a hundred days, it will do it for free. (Reuters: James Glover II)

It started as a thought bubble, but a plan hatched on social media less than a week ago to shore up South Australia's troubled power grid is rapidly turning into action.

Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, who founded business software maker Atlassian, said there is "a good chance" he'll be able to find the funding and political will to build a battery farm in South Australia with the help of US battery and electric car maker Tesla.

That political will and funding took a big leap forward with the South Australian Government announcing its intention to help fund a 100 megawatt-hour battery out of a new $150 million renewable energy fund.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill previously said he was open to Tesla founder Elon Musk's pitch to build at least one 100 megawatt-hour battery farm within "100 days from contract signature or it is free".

Mr Musk has spoken to both Mr Weatherill and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull since making his promise via Twitter.

Power generator AGL has also said it would make a site in South Australia it had already set aside for a similar project available to Tesla.

Tesla's 'mates rates' offer changes the economics

Mr Cannon-Brookes set the ball rolling with a Tweet challenging Tesla's claim to be able to build a 100 megawatt-hour farm in South Australia within 100 days, replicating a project completed at the end of last year in Ontario, in southern California.

External Link: Mike Cannon-Brookes tweets: @elonmusk legend! ☀️ You’re on mate. Give me 7 days to try sort out politics & funding. DM me a quote for approx 100MW cost - mates rates!

Mr Musk tweeted back, vowing to build it within 100 days, "or it is free".

But it was his subsequent offer to almost halve his price, in response to Mr Cannon-Brookes' request for "mates rates", that has captured the imaginations and wallets of high-net worth individuals, superannuation funds and other investors, who have showered Mr Cannon-Brookes with offers of funding.

"Elon almost halved ... the price of what's available at a grid-scale storage capacity, which was a very bold offer and blew up a lot of people's models as to what was possible in this space," Mr Cannon-Brookes told RN Breakfast.

"When the pricing halved, the economics become vastly different over a 20-year term of an asset like this in infrastructure.

"So you've seen a lot of other people come out and say, 'we'll have to match that price, we can do it in 100 days' ... and kudos for Elon for taking that step."

Mr Cannon Brookes says he has learnt "a lot of the dark arts of power, both political and electric," over the last few days, and he has been pleasantly surprised by the response so far.

"I'm just trying to change the conversation, so we talk about something other than coal or gas as a potential solution for the country," he said.

"It's a little embarrassing how far and how fast it's gone.

"There's a number of Australian and international companies who proposed this as a solution to SA's crisis last week, last month and a few months ago and probably falling on deaf ears."

Several rival Australian companies have come out saying they too can build a similar plant in South Australia, including Zen Energy, chaired by Ross Garnaut, and Lyon Solar, which is building a massive solar and storage plant in South Australia.

Mr Cannon-Brookes welcomed the competition, and pointed out that most batteries used by these firms are built overseas.

Audio: Could a Twitter brainstorm between tech billionaires solve South Australia's energy deadlock? (Breakfast)

"I'm just seeing if we can turn this momentum into something actual for SA and as an example of something Australians can do," he said.

"If there's a competition among battery manufacturers and installers ... that can only be a good thing.

"If that's the conversation we're having as to which is the best battery, then the country is in a good spot."

AustraliaPlus


 

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