marvinat0rz
Member
Wow. I just realized how huge the implications of cheap battery storage are for the adoption of renewable energy. I'm sorry if this has been discussed throughout the last 45 pages, I don't have time to read through it all. Current battery packs, like the ones in the Model S, are optimized for quick, intermittent discharge at high power. Battery packs for the utility grid could be made larger in capacity, but with a load profile optimized more towards long battery life. I think this will be a requirement for using these packs in the utility grid.
Solar power is already close to cost parity with coal in many markets of the world. The only remaining problem is to cost-effectively store power for longer periods of time, so the power can also be used off-peak. I don't have the knowledge or capacity to run the numbers on this. Not sure if a 30% reduction in the cost of li-ion battery packs is enough to make the total installation cost competitive with coal-fired power plants. Have anyone on the Tesla board run these numbers? If this is actually the case, then the train is shortly leaving the station, and we are setting up for large-scale disruption of fossil electric power generation in the coming years.
I want in on this. Buying a solar ETF would certainly be one way of doing this. Owning Tesla is another - Tesla and partners running the gigafactory would of course be exposed to the profits of this business. I suppose Solar City or similar utility companies could also grab a large piece of the pie. Have I just realized something obvious which everyone else saw a year and a half ago? Has anyone run the numbers on this?
Solar power is already close to cost parity with coal in many markets of the world. The only remaining problem is to cost-effectively store power for longer periods of time, so the power can also be used off-peak. I don't have the knowledge or capacity to run the numbers on this. Not sure if a 30% reduction in the cost of li-ion battery packs is enough to make the total installation cost competitive with coal-fired power plants. Have anyone on the Tesla board run these numbers? If this is actually the case, then the train is shortly leaving the station, and we are setting up for large-scale disruption of fossil electric power generation in the coming years.
I want in on this. Buying a solar ETF would certainly be one way of doing this. Owning Tesla is another - Tesla and partners running the gigafactory would of course be exposed to the profits of this business. I suppose Solar City or similar utility companies could also grab a large piece of the pie. Have I just realized something obvious which everyone else saw a year and a half ago? Has anyone run the numbers on this?