Tesla Gets Go Ahead on $2 Billion SolarCity Deal

The Tesla-SolarCity deal assures one thing only: Debate will continue over whether Elon Musk is a tech visionary or a financial dilettante indifferent to short-term losses. Or both.

You have to hand it to Elon Musk. He didn’t just sell the deal of his life last week when shareholders of Tesla and SolarCity agreed to a merger.

He pulled off the deal amid widespread criticism from business ethics and corporate governance experts who slammed Musk from the moment the $2.6 billion deal was proposed. Any skepticism Musk deserves he created for himself, but that skepticism now needs to move from the deal to something else: Just what exactly have Tesla investors gotten themselves into?

Some pundits point to the deal as part of Musk’s master plan to create a car powered by solar and to develop batteries that radically change how we generate and store energy. Musk noted earlier this month that a solar roof for cars is “probably” going to be added as an option for Tesla buyers.

 

elon-musk-solar-city-content

 

But a good place to look at the lingering confusion as the combined electric-car and solar-power company moves forward is the reaction from stock analysts. Musk’s vision is so bold that some on Wall Street remain unable to fully comprehend it or, in the least, grasp how it’s a catalyst for Tesla shares in the short term.

Musk says the deal will boost his longer-term vision of a diversified renewable-energy company whose products can generate electricity, store it and use it to power both homes and cars without using fossil fuels.

“To solve the sustainable-energy question, we need sustainable-energy production, which is going to come primarily in the form of solar. … Combine that with stationary storage and an electric vehicle and you have a complete solution to a sustainable-energy future,” he said in June. “Those are three parts that are needed. And those are three things that I think Tesla should be providing.”

Read Full Article: 

If you want to know more about this and other topics directly from end users of energy storage technologies join us at one of these annual events: The Energy Storage World Forum (Grid Scale Applications), or The Residential Energy Storage Forum, or one of our Training Courses.

LATEST ARTICLES

Energy Storage Systems: the role of an Integrator

Simplifying BESS deployments by mastering their associated risks With the introduction of Battery Energy Storage Systems ‘BESS’, a new role has been created on the value chain. It is the role of a BESS integrator. The role of an integrator can be misunderstood at times or blended with other roles at other times. This is…

Read More

Product Development: Embracing product safety and compliance

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: EMBRACING PRODUCT SAFETY AND COMPLIANCE Recent safety incidents on storage plants have raised concerns about the fire safety of battery storage systems. Such events are extremely rare compared to the cumulated global deployments of energy storage systems, which have reached more than 27 GWh by end of 2020 (Wood Mackenzie 2021). However, for…

Read More

★REVIEWS

“Probably the most interactive and well organized storage event on the calendar.”

★★★★★

Sales Director, S&C

“Great topics, competent speakers, good networking: keep it like that.”

★★★★★

TLC & SCADA Manager, FRI-EL

“High scientific content, well targeted, perfect organization.”

★★★★★

Expert Technical & Governance, Elia

Excellent networking event. The sponsorship was well worth it.”

★★★★★

Manager, ATL

View More

x