Tesla to unveil home storage batteries

Martyn1981

SolarEdge launches Tesla-compatible inverter

Mart.

Martyn1981

A news item on home storage in Australia:

Sunniest Continent Lures Tesla as Solar Battery Race Accelerates

Australia, the sunniest continent, is luring solar battery suppliers from Tesla Motors Inc. to LG Corp. as the global roll out of the technology for home and business power storage gathers pace.

At stake is a domestic market that could be worth A$24 billion ($18 billion), according to Morgan Stanley. Australia leads the world in putting solar panels on roofs, and by 2040, about one in two homes are forecast to rely on sun power.

Elon Musk’s Tesla plans early next year to bring its new batteries to Australia, which will join Germany as its first two markets outside the U.S. LG Chem will offer new technology to Australian homes in August, while Panasonic Corp. plans to begin selling its batteries in the country in October.

Mart.

jillard-house

although the battery is a massive step in the right direction tesla themselves admitted that the battery loses capacity each year at a rate that makes them essentially useless after 8 years which just so happens to be the time it takes to break even.

Martyn1981

Just a little news item on battery storage, Tesla and Germany:

Musk's Tesla faces German battle over battery-powered homes

But the technology is improving, and costs falling, and some analysts think Germany - with more solar panels than anywhere in the world and sky-high power prices - could become the industry's first mass-market.

"The business model of power batteries is becoming increasingly attractive," said Norbert Schwieters, global utilities leader at consultants PwC, noting market estimates that sales in Germany could reach half a million within a decade, up from around 25,000 now.

IS THE PRICE RIGHT?

With the second-highest retail power costs in Europe, partly the result of the government's break-neck push into renewables, Germany's economy stands to gain massively if it can take a chunk of its back-up grid capacity offline.

Germany boasts about 39 gigawatts (GW) of installed solar capacity, bringing its total capacity to nearly 200 GW, more than twice the level it theoretically needs.

Vast amounts of costly back-up power are required to kick in when the sun doesn't shine. If homes, offices and factories can store their solar power, many of the country's power stations can be scrapped and transmission systems do not have to be extended at billions of euros of cost.

Mart.

marcosdjcm

Martyn1981 wrote: »

Just a little news item on battery storage, Tesla and Germany:

Musk's Tesla faces German battle over battery-powered homes

Mart.

This stuff is so close. A friend & I calculated that for under £1000, I could get some ebay solar panels and some car batteries and run my flat off the grid already. But, it was a rough calculation and probably doesn't account for some things. But even if it was £2000....I'd break even in under 3 years.

Cardew

marcosdjcm wrote: »

This stuff is so close. A friend & I calculated that for under £1000, I could get some ebay solar panels and some car batteries and run my flat off the grid already. But, it was a rough calculation and probably doesn't account for some things. But even if it was £2000....I'd break even in under 3 years.

I wish you were right, but sadly I fear you are way way out!


It would appear that you spend £700pa on electricity??


Would you care to give some figures for your assumptions.


Panels, cabling, batteries, inverters and charging/storage of batteries http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg139.pdf


What do you do in winter when for a week or so you might only generate a few kWh?

EricMears

Cardew wrote: »

I wish you were right, but sadly I fear you are way way out!

It would appear that you spend £700pa on electricity??

Would you care to give some figures for your assumptions.

Panels, cabling, batteries, inverters and charging/storage of batteries http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg139.pdf

What do you do in winter when for a week or so you might only generate a few kWh?

There's also another slight problem in that the property is described as a flat. There may be special circumstances but most flats are unlikely to have any access to a roof or garden (or if they did would have to share it with others). Would that leave enough space for the large number of solar panels needed to ensure that batteries stay charged throughout low generation periods ?

marcosdjcm

Cardew wrote: »

I wish you were right, but sadly I fear you are way way out!


It would appear that you spend £700pa on electricity??


Would you care to give some figures for your assumptions.


Panels, cabling, batteries, inverters and charging/storage of batteries http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg139.pdf


What do you do in winter when for a week or so you might only generate a few kWh?

Actually, yep, my flat really does use ~£700 of Good Energy's 100% renewable electricity a year. That includes electric wall heaters and electric water boiler. No gas. It's pretty neat.

Yes you are right about the winter, I'll have to work that one out, but it's in the ballpark. Maybe just buy twice as many solar panels just to be safe. Or have an exercise bike Dynamo thing. :T

marcosdjcm

EricMears wrote: »

There's also another slight problem in that the property is described as a flat. There may be special circumstances but most flats are unlikely to have any access to a roof or garden (or if they did would have to share it with others). Would that leave enough space for the large number of solar panels needed to ensure that batteries stay charged throughout low generation periods ?

It's true that this is all theoretical. We rough-calculated that I have enough window space that if I created shutters that the slim caravan-style solar panels would be attached to. there would be enough surface area on my bright south facing flat. We also halved the output for the year just to add a pretty big margin. Of course, this is all pub type napkin & Google calculations.

zeupater

marcosdjcm wrote: »

It's true that this is all theoretical. We rough-calculated that I have enough window space that if I created shutters that the slim caravan-style solar panels would be attached to. there would be enough surface area on my bright south facing flat. We also halved the output for the year just to add a pretty big margin. Of course, this is all pub type napkin & Google calculations.

Of course, you have somewhere well over 60 square meters of southerly aspect window to place the panels in and don't mind it being pretty dark in the flat all summer ? .... and of course, you'll already have realised that you'll be running everything at ~12VDC !

Z