UK Gets First Tesla Powerwall Installation

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The UK is now home to its first Tesla Powerwall installation, following the purchase of one of the hyped energy storage systems by a solar-energy-system-owning electrician in Wales.

The system was purchased, as one might guess, in order to allow the owner (Mark Kerr) and his family to better make use of the electricity produced by the rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) installation on the property. Previously, the family had fed the excess electricity generated back into the grid for a bit of a return, but the new installation now means that the family can simply make use of the electricity generated themselves.

Tesla-Powerwall-price

“This is the future, definitely,” Kerr stated in an interview with the Guardian. “For me this is the logical next step. We have the solar panels but we need a way to make best use of the power they produce. Me and my family are all out in the day, and we are not making use of the enormous amount of clean energy that our solar panels produce. The battery will allow us to store the energy we don’t use in the day to use when we need it in the evenings.”

“It’s a gorgeous-looking piece of technology, its design is very sleek and minimalistic and something you can hang on the wall like a piece of art, definitely nothing like some of the other clunky looking batteries.”

Here’s more:

The setting is decidedly modest: a utility room in a red-brick house at the end of a cul-de-sac in Wales. But if the hype turns out to be right, this may be the starting point for an energy revolution in the UK.

…A self-confessed tech-head and an electrician by trade, Kerr could hardly contain his excitement when the Powerwall arrived.

…A company called Solar Plants, based in Port Talbot, south Wales, has installed Kerr’s Powerwall. Its managing director, Oliver Farr, said it had e-mailed 3,000 customers about the device. Of the 1,500 who opened the e-mail, 600 said they wanted one.

“There is a lifestyle element to it,” stated Farr. “It’s like people who have an iPhone wanting an Apple Watch.”

Interestingly, Kerr’s system was installed for free, as Farr apparently wanted to see the system in action before beginning to sell it en masse.

Commenting on reports that the payback period for the system can be as long as a decade (or possibly longer), Kerr commented: “But it’s not just about the money. We’re environmentally minded and this seems the right thing to do.”

(Tip of the hat to “S’toon” on the Tesla Motors Club forum for the story.)


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James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

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