Lithium ion batteries reached a critical point of efficiency in the early 2000s. They were able to store enough energy to power a vehicle and small enough to store them in a portable way. This technological milestone marked the beginnings of Tesla, a small company that was motivated to produce the first, commercially available electric cars on the market. Nearly two decades later, Tesla is now the leader in the world of electric vehicles and is at the forefront of construction of critical electric vehicle infrastructure. Surprisingly though, Tesla is no longer just a car company. The company is after another ambitious goal: the development of economically sensible microgrid technology.
As discussed previously, battery storage and renewable energy generation are two of the most critical elements to creating a decentralized, resilient grid. The current issue is that, although strides have been made to both of these technologies, we have not reached a point of efficiency where it would be profitable for homes and communities to adopt these solutions. The profitability of a system can be determined by the number of years it would take to make back the costs of the purchase relative to the life expectancy of the purchase. For example, if a homeowner were to purchase a battery for their home, they would be able to benefit from storing electricity during the night when it is less expensive and using the stored electricity in the battery during the day. This allows them to make some profit on their electricity consumption each day. However, purchasing the battery may not be profitable because it may take a decade to recoup the cost of the battery and the battery may only have a life expectancy of five years. In this case, purchasing the battery would not be an economically viable choice for an ordinary consumer. Because we need economical consumers across every town in America to purchase these technologies for the development of a decentralized grid, we need to innovate cheaper, better batteries and renewable energy generators.
Tesla has set itself up to be the leaders in making this change. Each year, they’ve been developing better energy storage systems for both domestic and commercial use cases. For commercial usage, Tesla has a line of batteries known as the Powerpack. This can be used by large smart grid systems like data centers and universities. They also released a product known as the Megapack to be used for solar fields and other renewable power farms. Apple has announced they will be using these Megapacks to store energy from their solar farm as part of the “largest battery” project in the world. For residential and community use, the Tesla Powerwall plugs into homes to get better pricing on electricity. In terms of power generation, Tesla has been innovating in the space of solar power. In 2016, Tesla merged with SolarCity. Since then, they have since released two lines of products to motivate home owners to begin using solar and making the transition easier. Tesla’s first line of solar panels are similar to traditional solar panels. They are simply more elegantly designed to match the style of the home. Their second line of solar panels, which they call the Solar Roof, is more unique though. The Solar Roof is a collection of sturdy, water resistant tiles that act very similar to traditional roof tiles, except that they double as a solar power generation unit. These changes may merely seem aesthetic, but they’re essential in motivating consumers to make the switch to the system. Similar to how well-designed, fashionable, and eye-catching Tesla cars have begun a cultural movement towards electric vehicles, elegant solar roofs can begin a transition to more regular solar panels on homes.
Tesla is creating economically sensible and desirable technology that will motivate consumers to make the switch from homes dependent on the grid to personal microgrids. Their continued innovation in both solar panels and energy storage for residential and commercial applications is key towards the development of a decentralized grid, which we discussed more in depth in the last article. Tesla’s rapid progress in this area is genuinely exciting, and I firmly believe they will drive innovation in the field of microgrids over the coming decade. It will undoubtedly be an interesting challenge to create cheaper, better, and more attractive batteries and solar panels. I hope to get the opportunity to become more involved in tackling these complex, pressing problems.
Source:
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/31/22360839/apple-tesla-megapack-energy-storage-grid-solar-batteries
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