It’s official, Tesla’s home battery will be called PowerWall.
Update
Looks like someone hit go on the press release before the start of the event.. here’s the details..
Tesla are introducing Tesla Energy, a suite of batteries for homes, businesses to help the world transition away from fossil fuels. Tesla say they’re not just an automotive company, they’re now an energy innovation company. With deals signed with channel partners Treehouse, SolarEdge and Green Mountain Power, it seems they’re pretty serious about Tesla Energy getting us to zero emission power generation. Also on-board are big partners like Amazon and Target.
“We’ve been working closely with Tesla for the past year to drive innovative applications of high-capacity battery technology in data center applications with the ultimate goal of reducing the technical barriers limiting widespread adoption of renewables in the grid,” said James Hamilton, Distinguished Engineer at AWS. “Batteries are important for both data center reliability and as enablers for the efficient application of renewable power. They help bridge the gap between intermittent production, from sources like wind, and the data center’s constant power demands. We’re excited to roll out a 4.8 megawatt hour pilot of Tesla’s energy storage batteries in our US West (Northern California) Region. This complements our strategy to use renewable energy to power our global infrastructure.”
With Tesla Energy, homes, business, and utilities will be able to store the power from renewable energy to manage power demand, provide backup power and increase grid resilience.
The Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. The Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts seamlessly on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve.
The battery can provide a number of different benefits to the customer including:
- Load shifting – The battery can provide financial savings to its owner by charging during low rate periods when demand for electricity is lower and discharging during more expensive rate periods when electricity demand is higher
- Increasing self-consumption of solar power generation – The battery can store surplus solar energy not used at the time it is generated and use that energy later when the sun is not shining
- Back-up power – Assures power in the event of an outage
The Powerwall Home Battery increases the capacity for a household’s solar consumption, while also offering backup functionality during grid outages.
The Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimized for backup applications or 7kWh optimized for daily use applications. Both can be connected with solar or grid and both can provide backup power. The 10kWh Powerwall is optimized to provide backup when the grid goes down, providing power for your home when you need it most. When paired with solar power, the 7kWh Powerwall can be used in daily cycling to extend the environmental and cost benefits of solar into the night when sunlight is unavailable.
Powerwall specs:
- Mounting: Wall Mounted Indoor/Outdoor
- Inverter: Pairs with growing list of inverters
- Energy: 7kWh or 10kWh
- Continuous Power: 2kW
- Peak Power: 3kW
- Round Trip Efficiency: >92%
- Operating Temperature Range: -20C (-4F) to 43C (110F)
- Warranty: 10 years
- Dimensions: H: 1300mm W: 860mm D:180mm
Price
So now we know the detail, the question is price and availability. Tesla’s selling price to installers is US$3,500 for 10kWh and US$3,000 for 7kWh. (Price excludes inverter and installation.) The 10kw system is around double what most households have in solar on their roof and far cheaper than expected.
Availability
PowerWall will begin deliveries in late Summer.
You can watch live at http://www.teslamotors.com/livestream
