It's a bit unclear where a discussion of GridLogic should belong. It is a new microgrid as a service from SolarCity, but at heart the energy storage and management devices are from Tesla. So any Tesla investor interested in the stationary storage market needs to pay attention to both SolarCity and GridLogic.
What sets SolarCity apart is their market dominance strategy. They are by far the largest solar installer in the US. They have put a lot of resources into minimizing the total cost of installation, and if I recall correctly they've driven the down to $2.86/Wp, with installation accounting for $2.09, making rooftop installations nearly competive with utility scale installations about $2/Wp.
Now here's what I find so interesting about GridLogic. They are developing a nearly plug and play, intelligent network approach to rolling out interconnectable microgrids AT A COST COMPETITIVE WITH UTILITY SCALE GRIDS. So these microgrids can be rapidly deployed at below utility cost and scaled up and interconnected as needed. Central to these GridLogic nodes are the intelligent storage devices that not only store energy but perform intelligent power management. I figure Tesla can sell this as low as $0.50/W and still make a 30% gross margin. But even at $1/W for storage and load management this is competitive with gas/coal/oil generators in the $1.8/W range and $0.9/W for combined cycle natural gas. Here we are only looking at the cost of capacity, not the cost of energy/fuel. As a source of both capacity requiring not fuel, solar comes in at $1.9/W and wind at $1.5/W. So GridLogic can integrate cheap renewable energy with fossil fuel generators for backup minimizing both the capacity of back up deneration needed and the amount of fuel used. Since this is a microgrid, large transmission lines are not required, but may be integrated if available. Users within the microgrid can each have meters and gateways to measure the amount of energy consumed and generated. GridLogic suppoers billing and reporting functions. Individual users may connect whatever energy storage and generation assets they may possess. So Teslas Home Grid Storage device will be plug-and-play within GridLogic. With such a device the end user can support power needs in excess of the capacity of powerlines connecting the end user to the microgrid. That is, the Home Grid device can charge at a daily average rate, say 3kW, but discharge when needed at much higher rate for peak demand, say 10kW to rapidly charge an EV. Reliability is also enhanced as storage is distributed across the microgrid. So the infrastructure needed to distribute power can be kept to minimum, it is scaled to daily energy transmission needs and not instantaneous peak power demand needs. So if the cost of generation is competive with utilities, the cost of storage and load management is lower than utilities, and the cost of distibution capacity is smaller than utilities, then the whole system (capacity, energy and reliability) is cheaper than a utility.
Just as SolarCity has worked to squeeze out and finance the total cost of rooftop installation, it can squeeze out and finance the cost of expanding power grids with intelligent and efficient microgrids. In places like India and MENA, GridLogic could expand at much faster and cheaper rates than traditional utilities. Think of this like how cell phone networks have leapfrogged past traditional landline telephone companies in remote and underdeveloped regions. Microgrids can thrive where for over a hundred years centralized utilities have found it uneconomical to provide even basic service. The growth of demand for power is highest in India and the Middle East is second highest. SolarCity has the opportunity to deploy new utility access faster and cheaper than any player expanding the grid.
