As a researcher at the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) in Cocoa, Florida, I’ve lived with hurricanes my entire professional career. Each year is like a bad lottery since Florida is a hurricane magnet. Given the paths of past hurricanes, there’s plenty of reason for concern. Living in the state in September suggests a shooting gallery experience — with these hits by major storms, but a lot of near misses.
Tesla has kicked off a new initiative with progressive Vermont utility Green Mountain Power that lets customers lock in a flat monthly price for a solar-plus-storage system. The new program mirrors Tesla’s new tiered approach to solar rentals and loans, but with the addition of two Tesla Powerwalls to each system for an extra fee of $30 per month.
While there is so much news about Tesla’s vehicles, and sometimes its US rooftop solar business, it’s easy to forget that Tesla continues to bring stable electricity to many parts of the world that rely on diesel or have unstable access to electricity.
It has become crystal clear in the recent democratic debates that combating climate change is a central focus of the Democratic Party, and governments around the world as a whole. The growing pressure of climate change can’t be ignored, and lawmakers are working toward solutions. These plans will be daunting for established auto manufacturers to adapt to, essentially having to reshape their entire business models to conform with new regulations. In stark contrast, Tesla is in the unique position that it has not only embraced changing times, but built its entire business around them.
There’s an important caveat with electric cars. Although electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions, they draw their power from a wide variety of energy sources. Bloomberg reports, “Trading in your gasoline-guzzling car for an electric vehicle is a lot like shifting the emissions … [as] EVs run off electricity, and that electricity” can come from both clean and dirty energy sources.
July ushered in the start of the real action for our Tesla solar roof, as the installation kicked into high gear. The first materials arrived at the house and the team prepared to install the solar roof on our new home. Before we get into the installation, let’s talk about the components that make up of one of Tesla’s solar roofs.
Less than two years ago, Tesla built and installed the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Hornsdale, South Australia, using Tesla Powerpack batteries. Since then, the facility saved nearly $40 million in its first year alone and helped to stabilize and balance the region’s unreliable grid.
Tesla’s energy business (Tesla Energy) often ends up playing second fiddle to the admittedly more exciting automotive business, but that doesn’t mean it’s not growing. In Q2, Tesla increased deployments of its 13.5 kWh Powerwall 81%, according to the Q2 2019 investor letter, to a record 415MWh.
Tesla is hosting its quarterly earnings call for the second quarter of 2019 this afternoon at 3:30pm Pacific Time. Hop onto our livestream of the call, where we have partnered with Ben Sullins of Teslanomics to compile a rich video stream of the event. We’re pulling in all the questions … [continued]
Apple co-founder and computer tweaker extraordinaire Steve “Woz” Wozniak is sipping on the Tesla juice with his purchase of a set of 2 Powerwalls for his Los Gatos home. Power usage at the “Woz Home” will result in an impressive payback of just 3 years on the Powerwalls. Tesla Powerwall … [continued]
