Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the company"s plans to deploy its electric car battery technology into households around the world under the Powerwall brand. Powerwall is envisioned as a clean energy solution enabling homes with solar power to collect and store excess energy harvested during daylight hours for later consumption.
Today, Simply Energy, an energy retailer serving the eastern states, announced that it would start selling Tesla Powerwall packages. Meanwhile, Origin Energy has stated that it would offer Powerwall installations from February 2016 onwards. Natural Solar, the only retailer to divulge general pricing in a statement to "The Australian", stated that a 5kW solar energy solution including an inverter and Powerwall would amount to around AU$15,000 ($11,000 USD). Otherwise, the company estimated a cost of AU$9,500 ($7,000 USD) to add Powerwall to an existing solar energy system.
Presently, it is unclear whether or not these retailers will offer the choice between the 7kWh and 10kWh Powerwall models, either as part of the initial packages or as part of a customized solution.
Given the recent abolition of the carbon tax, it will be interesting to see how this next chapter in renewable energy plays out in Australia and how the energy sector reacts to this potential long term threat to traditional energy sources.
Source: The Australian