In some areas where installations of home based solar panels is very popular, there have been problems with overloading the grid during those times of the day with high sunshine, and low usage (eg, noon). Having electricity diverted to battery storage in this case would ease the problem. There would have to be some kind of subsidy to encourage more households to install the battery packs though.
trade4us2,
May 21, 5:45pm
Tesla's CEO says the batteries are uneconomic. They'll last less than a year if you charge them every day, then you'll have to buy new ones.
"Those hopeful that the battery would be used to immediately incorporate solar power into local grids got some unpleasant news: SolarCity, a company of which Tesla??
loose.unit8,
May 21, 6:26pm
I can't see where it implies this "They'll last less than a year if you charge them every day, then you'll have to buy new ones."
that certainly doesn't marry up with their 10 year warranty
zak410,
May 21, 6:39pm
I'm sure their car battery last more than one year lol.
trade4us2,
May 21, 8:02pm
I have lost track of another article that says that the batteries will last for about 200 cycles, i.e. less than a year if you charge it every day, which is the whole point of using solar power.
There is an interesting utube clip about a university professor in Tokyo who is developing a battery made entirely of carbon, one of the most abundant elements in the universe, and 100% recyclable.
t_naki,
May 22, 2:16am
It does pose a lot of interesting problems for lines companies. It make the management of their network very complex. And of course more complicate management costs more and at the same time the total number of units being transmitted on the network is reducing so again prices increase.
If lines companies want to survive they need to spot the point when the shift comes and realise that they will not be making the profits they once did. If they fail to do that and continually put up prices to counter the falling numbers of unit then they will increase the problem and hasten their own demise.
The kind of subsidy you talk of is really charging other customers more in order to subsidise an uneconomical technology. When the technology hits a price point it will not need it and the growth will be organic. It is not fair to increase one consumers prices in order to subsidise another.
So far it seems to be falling into the category of another miracle "just around the corner". This was quite big news about 12 months ago, since then there's been deafening silence.
maverick67,
May 23, 5:07am
Good points re the power/line companies. I have believe much of that myself. We have just installed some solar tubes for hot-water, so far they are doing great given the time of year (also have a wetback). Looking for something to deal with the other 4000kw of power we use. The diagram I saw at the Tesla Powerwall page showed it hooked up to a solar panel. From what I was readying, is that now not viable?
harrislucinda,
May 23, 4:11pm
we have just had 24 panels installed not working yet as waiting for out power company to arrive and sign off How long did you wait until done as sun out all day and want to start making power Good if could have batteries to store but they say $100 ? for 1
timbo69,
Jan 3, 3:17am
I understand the pay back on current solar systems is in the vicinity of 12 years. - yes it will work but by the time you start saving money your system would have deteriorated (would need to replace batteries and panels wouldn't be performing at they used to) and be horribly out of date
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