Tesla's Elon Musk may have put large scale battery storage on the national agenda with his offer last week to solve South Australia's power crisis for free if he did not deliver a large system with 100 days of signing a contract, but both the Prime Minister and South Australia's Premier are looking for more detail before taking him up on the offer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Turnbull and Mr Musk spoke for an hour early Sunday afternoon, with the Prime Minister yet to form a view on the merits of power storage systems in solving South Australia's power supply woes.
"They had an in-depth discussion on the value of storage and the future of the electricity system," a spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office said.
Their discussion was not political in tone, but rather a discussion between two people "picking each other's brains" over the options for energy storage in Australia, one source familiar with the discussion said.
Mr Turnbull, who has vowed to take an agnostic approach to energy policy, is understood to be bemused that more work hasn't been put into looking at energy storage solutions.
South Australia's Premier, Mr Weatherill, has also spoken with Tesla's Mr Musk and the pair are expected to speak again in the coming days. Separately, Mr Weatherill said that a number of local and offshore groups have come forward with proposals in recent weeks.
Thanks @elonmusk for a great in depth discussion today about energy storage and it's role in delivering affordable & reliable electricity??? Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 12, 2017
You're most welcome. Very exciting to discuss the future of electricity. Renewables + storage arguably biggest disruption since DC to AC. https://t.co/7uXoUQf29f??? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2017
Thanks Elon. That's why I asked our clean energy finance agencies to focus on storage - vital now w generation more distributed & variable. https://t.co/T81Zi7CSo4??? Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 12, 2017
Pushing on
As the politicians weigh their options Mike Cannon-Brookes, the billionaire co-founder of Atlassian who sparked a storm on Friday after tweeting at Mr Musk challenging him to deliver on a boast made by his local manager that Tesla could solve the South Australian power crisis, has ploughed on trying to make the project happen.
@mcannonbrookes Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you???? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
@elonmusk @JayWeatherill Wow, that escalated fast. Brilliant. SA led in delivering aggressive renewable targets & now being attacked for it??? Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) March 11, 2017
Mr Cannon-Brookes has spent the weekend "working hard" on the proposal and tweeted on Sunday night that he had met with Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel who is reviewing the energy system.
"It's been an incredible 48 hours," he told Fairfax Media in a statement.
"It's evident that there is popular support for an alternative approach to solving the nation's electricity challenges. The idea of using storage to time shift renewable energy rather than further investing in fossil fuels is huge. This would be a world first technology, unreplicated anywhere else, and will put South Australia on the map.
Fantastic hour w Alan Finkel, Aus's chief scientist. Inspired by his progressive thinking on our energy future. Moving fwd. More soon. ????????? Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) March 12, 2017
"This stuff is space age. It's mind blowing to think that approaching the problem with forward thinking techniques - using technology and innovation - could be a (relatively) speedy solution for South Australia, improving thousands of people's lives. It's inspiring to see when Aussies come together using our collective ingenuity and smarts, we can make sh*t happen.
"I've been working hard over the weekend figuring things out and understanding the complexities of the situation: does it solve the problem; is it economically viable; what are the other blockers? I'm excited to see what unfolds this week."
Talks continue
One of the companies already working in South Australia is the privately owned Lyon Solar, for example, which is finalising plans for a 200-250 megawatt project across four sites in the state, with land and financing already in place for two of the sites, a spokesman for the company said.
"Just today major global battery suppliers have told me they could deliver a 100 megawatt (MW) on-grid battery in SA for less than the $330 million quoted by Mr Musk," John Grimes the head of the Energy Storage Council said.
"There are over 50 brands active in Australia who could individually or in consortiums, deliver 100MW or more in 100 days of signing a contract."
Lyon Solar is working with AES Storage, for example, to use its systems at the back end of a series of solar farms in South Australia with the potential to be up and running by year's end.
With Victoria's large Hazelwood power station scheduled to close at the end of the month, this could serve to exacerbate South Australia's problems since it may limit the amount of power the state can import during times of peak demand.
"South Australia is the global epicentre for the imminent take-off of large-scale battery-based energy storage, which can solve power challenges like SA's in months, not years," said Lyon Partner David Green.
"Multiple companies are sure to join the market, but Lyon is the only company close to being ready to build and be operational before next summer."
AES supplied large battery systems to California last year when gas supply constraints posed a threat to its electricity supplies, as did Tesla, for example.
