Battery Promise
Musk had earlier promised to install and bring into operation a Tesla battery storage system designed to prevent blackouts in South Australia, the Australian mainland state most reliant on renewable energy. The promise injected Musk into the middle of a messy political spat in Australia over energy policy.
A series of power outages in South Australia have raised fears of more widespread blackouts across the nation’s electricity market and raised questions as to why one of the world’s largest producers of coal and gas is struggling to keep the lights on in a mainland state.
Musk’s 100-day battery promise found a receptive ear in Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who made innovation a flagship policy ahead of an election last year and prior to politics made a fortune in the late 1990s dotcom boom.
Energy storage will “be a priority this year,” Turnbull tweeted back in March. Musk replied on Twitter that renewables and storage were huge disrupters to traditional electricity supply while Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, who helped spark the search for a solution to the energy crisis, said in March that the “space age” technology could be a speedy solution for South Australia.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.