Tesla’s Giants Batteries Are Thriving In The Energy Market

The giant battery from Tesla in the south of Australia is thriving, yielded about $4 million in the last three months of 2018.

This particular quarter was worth paying attention to because this was when big batteries appeared in large number in Australia with the Dalrymple North and Gannawarra.

Energy storage is in great demand, showing in a rise in the use of pumped hydro. This trend can be explained by the fact that that amount of energy coming from the sun and wind is increasing rapidly.

What we need now is regulations so that we can make the most of this kind of market’s potential.

Tesla’s model has gained popularity in the field ever since it was introduced more than 14 months ago. Elon Musk, the company’s CEO was confident that Tesla would achieve payback in a couple of years for its $95 million investment.

The company also benefits from the Frequency Control Ancillary Services and also helps put an end on Australia’s cartel-like gas generators, which could sometimes come at the price tag of $7 million per day for the service which would normally cost just about 10%. Tesla’s revenue in this market is increasing quickly. The latest figure from Aemo shows that it made about $4.5 million from FCAS.

In the wholesale market, there is a broad difference between the price in peak and off-peak time, reaching $47/MWh.

However, there is an issue. The AC/AC efficiency, the ratio between the energy put in and the energy taken from storage makes financial gain from the storage establishment is too small for energy arbitrage, which is to store energy in off-peak times and use when the price increases.

However, It is showed that batteries like Hornsdale perform better than the pumped hydro in energy arbitrage, which might come down to their quick response.

There have not been any regulation yet and in the meantime, batteries are in for several difficulties to find an effective way to operate.