Opinion: Tesla is accelerating the end of your local power producer

Until a few years ago, blackouts used to be common during the peak of Croatia’s tourist season. Every two days or so, homes near popular tourist destinations would be left without electric power for several hours. I would roast as the temperature rose.

Residents of Nova Scotia, Canada, also have had blackouts, but their future is brighter — at least for 300 homes included in Nova Scotia Power’s Intelligent Feeder pilot project. The idea is to use Tesla’s TSLA, -1.54%utility-grade Powerpack batteries in conjunction with local wind turbines as a backup in situations when the power grid falls short, such as during unfavorable weather conditions or grid overloads.

For example, if a wind turbine can’t generate enough power because there’s no wind, the batteries kick in and the blackout is averted. Before they can be used, though, Tesla’s Powerpack batteries need to be recharged, which is done incrementally by using excess energy generated by Nova Scotia’s wind turbines during its regular operation.

2018 testing

As part of the research, 10 homes were also equipped with Tesla’s Powerwall 2 home batteries, which will be monitored for data collection and analysis of energy consumption. Having both a home-energy backup system and a backup energy source at grid level means the increased reliability of the entire power supply system.

The pilot was scheduled for the end of February 2018, and will run until the end of the year. During that period, Nova Scotia Power will evaluate the system’s performance, and if everything goes well, its power grid will become more reliable, providing a foundation for producing even more clean energy in the future.

Battery farms

Now, this isn’t Tesla’s only or largest such experiment. Its battery farms already exist in Ontario, California (sporting 396 Powerpacks and 20-megawatt capacity) and South Australia (a whopping 100-megawatt capacity powering 30,000 homes). This development shows that lithium-ion battery technology has matured enough to be used for providing additional stability and flexibility to existing power grids, as well as bringing clean power into parts of the world that for various geographic and atmospheric reasons weren’t suitable for the infrastructure.

A few years still need to pass before all the testing and analysis are complete, but should these be favorable, it’s easy to see this technology spread not only all over the U.S., but also worldwide.

I believe battery systems like these could be game-changers. And it’s not only about dirty vs. clean energy, but also about its democratization and the transfer of power ownership from power companies to individuals and small businesses.

Off the grid

Let me explain. Energy backup systems like these provide new options for anyone in the energy business, but also for the first time, and in an affordable way, they open the same doors for consumers. By allowing anyone to store energy (regardless of the source), and release it at a moment’s notice, battery systems are a step toward a more energy-independent, autonomous society, where individuals and institutions can produce and store energy for their own purposes, independently of the big providers.

Obviously, the technology isn’t perfect, and much still needs to be done to optimize the efficiency, reliability and stability of clean energy sources, but the foundations are there.

What do you think? Will the combination of energy-storage solutions and clean-energy generators lead to a society independent of big power companies? Let me know in the comment section below.

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