SolarCity Develops Community Microgrids That Include Tesla Batteries
Microgrids by SolarCity, that include generators and software with solar panels to manage the power will now incorporate Tesla Motors batteries to store the energy generated. With this, the company hopes to maintain electricity in the event of a hurricane or earthquake. Hence, this will be targeted at cities prone to such disasters.
While most of its microgrid business is focused on the US and North America, SolarCity has plans to expand these microgrids to island nations with poor power grids. As severe weather events become increasingly frequent, the solution to resolving grid outages would also become increasingly important.
The focus on municipalities, and communities with a weak grid could potentially open up a large market. The systems could electrify rural areas without access to a grid or provide reliability where the grid is often disrupted; it could make a huge difference in the developing world.
SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass notes that “The approach to microgrids to date has largely been either piecing something together from some small equipment vendors or you…pay upward of $10 million for a massive solution that may not be, from a budget standpoint [be] realistic, especially for a rainy-day solution.”
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