SolarCity offers Tesla battery-based home and commercial energy storage system

5 December 2013 Geoff Zeiss

Lux Research recently released a report Batteries Included: Gauging Near-Term Prospect for Solar/Energy Storage Systems that projects that the coupled Solar and energy storage (lithium ion batteries) market will grow to $2.8 billion in 2018.  Lux projects that residential applications will be the primary driver through 2018 growing to 382 MW in 2018. It will be followed by the light commercial segment which is projected to reach 220 MW by 2018.  Most of the installations (95%) will be linked to the electric power grid.

SolarCity offers a home Lithium-ion battery system and has just announced a commercial energy storage system with smart software (DemandLogic) running behind the meter in selected California, Massachusetts, and Connecticut markets and expects to  be able to offer the service across the U.S. by the end of 2014.  The battery system uses Tesla Motor’s advanced battery technologies. 

The home battery system is wall-mounted  and about the size of a solar power inverter.  A fully charged battery will power basic home needs for a few days and a solar powered home can recharge the battery from the sun to run indefinitely.  Basic home needs include charging cell phones, basic lighting, and home security systems.

In the commercial market the battery system is being marketed primarily as a backup system during emergency power outages. 

But another benefit is targeted at people and businesses on a time-of-use tariff, because the battery can be used to shift power grid consumption from peak to off-peak.  For the same overall power usage, this will reduce the monthy power bill. 

Coupled solar and storage

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells installed on the roof generate direct current (DC) when hit by sunlight.  The DC power is converted by an inverted into alternating current (AC) power.   The AC power travels goes to a breaker box.which connnects it to your home AC electricity network.  Any excess DC power is uses to charge the battery.  The home remains connected to the utility grid so you can use grid  power when it is available.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

View article by Geoff Zeiss

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*