Elon Musk has another ambitious energy project and this time it’s free
Elon Musk has risen to the challenge of fixing South Australia’s power crisis in 100 days. If he can’t accomplish the goal within that time? He’ll do it for free.
The Tesla executive responded to co-founder of the software company Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, on Twitter following Tesla vice president Lyndon Rive's own claim that he would commit to installing 100-300 megawatt hours of batteries required to prevent further power shutdowns.
Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
South Australia has experienced a series of blackouts since last September, leading to political debate about the country’s energy policy. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull also declared a national energy emergency at the Australian Financial Business Review Summit earlier this week.
Musk claimed the feat could be accomplished at a global cost of $250 per kilowatt hours for 100 megawatt systems. He also noted that taxes, tariffs and installation costs would vary, but those would be out of the company’s control.
$250/kWh at the pack level for 100MWh+ systems. Tesla is moving to fixed and open pricing and terms for all products.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
Yes, but shipping, taxes/tariffs and installation labor vary by country, as those costs are beyond our control
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017
South Australian senator Sarah Hanson-Young responded to the Twitter thread with “Let’s talk!”
Other notable people and companies have offered to help, including Australian angel investor Alan Jones who said he’d donate his PowerWall 1 to the project and Impact Group, which said it would match Tesla’s 100 megawatts of storage with 100 megawatts of new, renewable generation.
yep, serious enough for me! And I'll donate my PowerWall 1 to the project (I wanted a reason to buy V2 anyway 😉
— alan jones (the nice one) (@bigyahu) March 10, 2017
https://twitter.com/ImpactInv/status/840114108439568384
It's not the first time Musk has made such a hefty claim, like the advent of Tesla's diverless cars in 2015 and his plans to build a "self-sustaining city" on Mars as soon as 2022. The company has also experienced its disappointments, like not quite meeting its 80,000 car delivery promise in 2016.
It's only been two days since Musk's tweet, so it's currently unclear whether or not the project is actually as feasible as he claims. Nonetheless, from the 2,500 retweets and 4,700 likes it seems as though the people of Australia and beyond are rooting for its success.