Elon Musk’s newest idea is to help South Australia create a solar farm that will address their energy issues in just one hundred days ‘or he will do it for free’.
In South Australia, energy prices are increasing, and local companies remain unable to meet public energy demand. Last year, storms led to a state-wide blackout that shut down operations for many ports and public transportation and disrupted business operations in the fifth most populous state in the country.
RELATED ARTICLES:
- Tesla and Elon Musk are introducing solar rooftops for a paradigm shift in the industry
- Solar City’s solar rooftops to be placed on 5 million US homes
To that end, co-founder of SolarCity (and Musk’s cousin) Lyndon Rive says they are capable of installing 100 to 300 megawatts per hour battery storage, which could solve South Australia’s energy issues. And while Rive doesn’t “have 300 MWh sitting there ready to go,” he told AFR that he can certainly get them.
After making this statement, Mike Cannon-Brookes, CEO of Atlassian, tweeted Lyndon and Musk if they were indeed serious about the offer.
Of which Musk replied via Twitter:
“Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?”
Cannon-Brookes’ asked for seven days to “sort out politics and funding,” at which point he also requested that the Tesla CEO send an approximate quote on how much a 100 MW battery farm (at “mates rates”) would cost.
According to Musk, it would cost $250 per kWh to produce over 100 MWh. He is confident that Tesla could get the system installed and working within one hundred days of signing a contract.
Assuming that Cannon-Brookes can indeed secure the paperwork needed to get the project underway, Tesla has a reputation of delivering on his promises.
Last year, Tesla took on a similar project in California: an 80MW farm that was completed in just 90 days that provided grid-scale power in response to possible power shortages.
*Article originally appeared at Minds.
