On last April 30, the CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, wanted
to prove that the company was not only able to produce electric cars. The
company which's headquartered in California, United States was apparently
carrying a fairly ambitious mission: to
provide renewable energy ecosystem for people without creating carbon emissions
that can harm the environment.
They introduced the Tesla Energy, an alternative energy
solution that's designed for home and industrial needs. Simply put, Tesla
Energy includes lithium-ion battery that can store energy for use when needed,
aka when the power grid is not operating.
Both of home and industry versions, these batteries are
designed to connect to local power grid. The integration with a set of solar
panels is also possible, so that the excess solar energy that's stored will not
be wasted just like that.
For home consumers, Tesla is targeting Powerwall. This
battery has a fairly compact size, and can be tethered to the wall - ideally in
the garage, since it can also recharge the batteries of Tesla electric cars.
What's interesting is the sophistication of the software
that's already embedded into Powerwall. This battery packs 'load shifting'
technology, where it will charge the power when the electricity demand is low
(at night), and supply the energy when the electricity demand is high (in the
daytime).
Tesla Powerwall can also be connected with a set of solar
panels to store excess solar energy during the day, and becomes a generator
when the power fails. The automation aspect is also presented by Powerwall. It
means that after installed by the technicians, the Powerwall doesn't require
special treatment in order to operate properly.
Tesla plans to sell the Powerwall in United States in the
late summer of this year. There are two variants offered: 7kWh variant costing
of $ 3,000 and 10kWh variant costing of $ 3,500. The price doesn't include the
cost of installation and the inverter component.
For the industrial community, Tesla has prepared Powerpack.
Simply put, Powerpack is a massive version of Powerwall. In addition to bring
the Powerwall features, the Powerpack can be grouped into an energy supply
system with a very large scale.
One block of Tesla Powerpack is able to accommodate 100kWh
energy. The factories can add another block of Powerpack to boost the energy up
to 500kWh. Or if the energy required is very large, the Powerpack network can
be expanded up to 10MWh (megawatt) or even more.