Tesla recently announced its new product – the Powerwall – a battery energy storage system for the home or small business. The sleek wall-mountable unit goes on sale later this year at a starting price of $3000.
Powerwall is widely thought of as a backup power system during outages and it certainly can fulfill that function. However, Tesla and many others see a broader variety of services that such a system can deliver.
In more and more places, electricity rates are based upon time of use rather than strictly on amount of energy consumed. As a result, it can be far more expensive to draw power in the middle of the afternoon instead of in the dead of night. With a battery system, cheap electricity can be used to charge it and then it can become the supply during the hours when power is expensive.
Businesses pay steep electricity demand charges. Their rates are set by the maximum amount of power they use at any one time. By storing electricity in a battery system and using it when they need it most, they can reduce their maximum demand.
Of course, even better than buying power when it is cheap is generating it yourself and the Tesla Powerwall is aimed at people with solar panels on their roofs. Tesla and its sister company Solar City are aggressively selling the solar panel plus battery combination. Power generated when it is sunny can be stored away and used at night or when it is cloudy.
Battery systems like the Powerwall are likely to be a growing presence in our homes and businesses.
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Tesla Unveils Home Battery: 5 Reasons It’s a Big Deal
Photo courtesy of Tesla.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.