Elon Musk: I Can Fix South Australia Power Network in 100 Days Or It's Free (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report on The Guardian: Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of electric car giant Tesla, has thrown down a challenge to the South Australian and federal governments, saying he can solve the state's energy woes within 100 days -- or he'll deliver the 100MW battery storage system for free. On Thursday, Lyndon Rive, Tesla's vice-president for energy products, told the AFR the company could install the 100-300 megawatt hours of battery storage that would be required to prevent the power shortages that have been causing price spikes and blackouts in the state. Thanks to stepped-up production out of Tesla's new Gigafactory in Nevada, he said it could be achieved within 100 days. Mike Cannon-Brookes, the Australian co-founder of Silicon Valley startup Atlassian, on Friday tweeted Elon Musk, asking if Tesla was serious about being able to install the capacity. Musk replied that the company could do it in 100 days of the contract being signed, or else provide it free, adding: "That serious enough for you?"

Comments

Batteries from Nevada to Australia?

[damn_registrars]

If the batteries will be made in Nevada, and shipped to Australia, I'm curious to know how they plan to transport them. It seems to me the most logical way would be by boat but could they get there quickly enough? If these are lithium ion batteries would it be possible to ship them by air given all the shipping restrictions that are placed on lithium ion batteries currently? If they go by boat how would they be packed to minimize the chance of a catastrophe en route?

Re:Batteries from Nevada to Australia?

[Anonymous Coward]

100 days from signing the contract.

I'm certain that the contract will deal with all the roadblocks.

Not about winning a bet

[kuzb]

Then they'll be back on Elon's doorstep in 5 - 10 years getting replacements because nobody else sells the batteries and they don't last forever...

Of course he'd make this bet. It's not about solving a problem, it's about creating a very expensive dependency on his company.

Re:Not about winning a bet

[gmack]

If the contract is large enough, you can get a third party to make the batteries for you.

Re:Not about winning a bet

[MrLogic17]

It's a solution to blackouts. Of course it's going to cost money - but the question is, does this solution make economic sense?
I'd wager (and so it Elon) that a big lump of batteries just might be cheaper than a new peaker power plant.

Re:Not about winning a bet

[meta-monkey]

Of course he'd make this bet. It's not about solving a problem, it's about creating a very expensive dependency on his company.

It's probably also about making a big PR splash. Even if he has to bust ass to get it done, ever other municipality in the world that has inconsistent power supply problems will ask "gee, if Elon could do it in Australia, why not here?"

Re:Not about winning a bet

[AmiMoJo]

They would be insane to buy them with less than a 20 year warranty. That's well within what you would expect for lithium batteries.

For example, quality cells of the type used in Tesla cars (developed by Panasonic, who are partners in the gigafactory) are rated for 3000 cycles to 80% remaining capacity. That's the minimum you would expect to get from a cell that doesn't have manufacturing defects, not the average.

So 3000 cycles, with one full cycle a day is over 8 years. But of course you won't do one full cycle a day. I don't know what the energy situation is down in Aus, but let's say they are pushing the batteries hard and getting 1 cycle every 4 days, or 25MWh/day average. That pushes them to 32 years, although there is some self-discharge and ageing so that might be pushing it. I'd expect a 20 year warranty though.

For comparison their 6.6kWh Powerwall comes with a 10 year warranty. It will be lower because the environment is less controlled and there isn't any regular maintenance. Again, 10 years is the absolute minimum, just like your car doesn't fall apart the second the warranty expires either.

Re:Not about winning a bet

[Grishnakh]

This idea is about solving blackouts, which as I understand it result from the peak load being too high for the current generation level.

Nuclear power doesn't help here: nuclear power is used for baseload because it can't increase or decrease its output quickly. For that, you need peak load generators, which usually run on things like natural gas, or various stored-energy schemes such as pumped hydro.

Re:Red Tape

[quonset]

He said after the contract was signed. Presumably all permits would have been worked out by that time.

Also, while he's waiting on the permits and contract to be signed he could be loading up all the needed equipment, getting his people ready, making arrangements for passage on ships and/or planes, and getting the logistics down. Before the ink is dry he'd already have the stuff moving so if, as others above had said, it takes 20 days to get to Australia by boat, that leaves him 80 days to do the work.

Ambitious? Certainly. Doable? Only one way to find out.

Re:Red Tape

[Talderas]

He boasting on his ability to deliver the on the promise. The contract will certainly include clauses that remove liability of providing the system for free in the case of other actors that can influence it that are outside of his control including a nature induced issue during shipping, piracy, the shipment held up by Australian customs, and union strikes that remove the ability to actual move material. That's just a limited list of the things that will probably show up.

Re:So could I...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't see the gigafactory opening, solar roof tiles or SpaceX landings as "less action". But maybe that's just me.