Category: Market News

Elon Musk unveiled his “master plan” for Tesla Motors Inc., delivering a long-term plan that includes making an integrated solar and battery storage system and building a freight truck and a bus. He even has a plan for a ride-sharing business.

According to IndustryWeek, Musk delivered the long-awaited plan on the company’s website to explain why the integration of Tesla and SolarCity Corp. is necessary and to show his vision for the two companies. He wants to use SolarCity, a rooftop solar panel installer, to generate electricity and charge an expanding range of Tesla models that address personal and public transport as well as cargo shipping.

“There are two other types of electric vehicles needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport,” the Tesla chief executive officer said in the blog post. “Both are in the early stages of development and should be ready for unveiling next year.”

Musk reiterated his call for acquiring SolarCity even as he outlined a significant expansion of Tesla’s products and ambitions for ride-sharing. Besides the Tesla Semi truck and the bus, he said the company will continue to pursue autonomy so that Tesla customers will be able to use their cars to “make money for you when you aren’t using it.”

Analysts were skeptical about Tesla’s ability to add more products to its lineup.

“As is typical, Elon Musk has laid out a grandiose plan for the future with no timeframes and few specifics, and no mention of how and when Tesla will be profitable,” Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Autotrader.com Inc., said in a email. “Tesla’s latest Master Plan includes expanding its electric vehicle product line to cover all major segments, when it hasn’t been meeting production targets with the limited product line it has now and in the next couple of years.”

Mercedes Benz Australia plans to unveil the home battery storage offering at its Melbourne headquarters in Mulgrave, along with an on-site four-car charging station, made up of the lithium-ion battery packs and solar panels.

The plan is for the company to sell the batteries to customers as a package with rooftop solar – the cost per 2.5kWh battery unit has not yet been released – through an as-yet unnamed “electricity retailer” partner.

According to Mercedes Benz German parent company, Daimler, up to eight 2.5kWh modules can be combined to make a capacity of up to 20kWh, allowing solar households to “buffer surplus… power with virtually no losses,” and increase their self-consumption to as much as 65 per cent.

The batteries have been available on the German market – where they are also sold as packages with solar by a network of sales partners – since April of this year, and according to the website have generated “tremendous interest” and numerous orders.

The move into the Australian residential energy storage market, says Mercedes head of corporate communications David McCarthy, is a natural progression, and goes hand in hand with the roll-out of electric cars: Mercedes is releasing three new plug-in hybrid EV models in Australia in July.

It also puts Mercedes into direct competition with fellow prestige EV maker, Tesla, whose 7kWh Powerwall battery was released to much fanfare in Australia in December last year.

“The future says this is one of the directions that people are going to want to go in,” McCarthy told One Step Off The Grid on Wednesday. “It’s not enough to charge your car… people who are buying a plug-in hybrid want to know where the energy is coming from and have the ability to generate the energy and store it.”

In terms of demand for the Mercedes home battery, McCarthy said that the level of interest being shown in Australia indicated they might move a few hundred a year, but that it was “unchartered territory”, so difficult to predict.

As for EV demand, McCarthy concedes that numbers are still small in Australia, and will take a while yet to build, but that stationary storage will help move this along.

“It will take a while… for EVS to sell in greater numbers,’ McCarthy told One Step. “Incentives are only one of the issues …and where the power comes from that charges the cars is another – and this is our solution to that problem.

“A customer who wants to buy a package (EV, battery and solar) can do so,” McCarthy said. “Depending on how much you want [in kWh] it’ll be enough to charge your car, or run your house too, or even feed back into the grid. So it depends what level you want to go to.”

In theory, the technology would eliminate the need for AA batteries which are now required to power peripherals such as the Magic Mouse.

While Bluetooth-powered keyboards, mouse and trackpads may be commonplace now, we could soon see solar power replacing the current technology.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published Apple Inc.

“Wireless communications circuitry transmits the touch input to the external equipment using the electrical power from the solar cell”.

According to TV Newsroom, the tech giant Apple has just been granted a patent for solar cells to be embedded underneath iPhone touchscreens, like those used in a Macbook trackpad, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch display. The company is looking to harness solar energy for these future accessories.

So, the solar cell being a light based power source gathers and converts ambient light into usable electrical energy, which is the stored into some relevant storage system like a battery or regulated capacitor. The new patent shows transparent solar cells embedded on the touch display surface to have the battery charged on the go.

Using solar power to better the battery life of devices while they are in use will be a good addition to the company’s desktop peripherals.

Unfortunately, as is the case with all patents, there’s no way of telling whether Apple will ever roll out such technology to its devices.

Whether Apple will eventually integrate this solar energy system into its physical devices is anybody’s guess.

Today’s patent application is credited to Apple reliability engineer Matthew Lang, who already has several eco-friendly engineering projects under his belt – such as designing and building an Eco-Marathon vehicle to compete in the annual Shell Eco-Marathon Americas competition.

Now, a New York Times report has revealed that Apple is considering incorporating wireless or solar charging capabilities into the Apple Watch.

An illustration of Apple’s solar cell as it appears on the patent application.

It’s also not clear whether solar energy is really sufficient to keep a device like a keyboard alive in perpetuity.

IBM has developed a computer system that can learn about weather from thousands of data points and predict days — even weeks — in advance how much power from solar and wind farms will be available for the U.S. power grid.

According to Computer World, the new system is as much as 30% more accurate than today’s state-of-the-art weather prediction systems used by organizations such as the National Weather Service, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

“It’s providing a forecast for solar, wind and other environmental parameters. It learns from solar plants [and] weather stations, and constantly adjusts and improves the forecast,” said Hendrik Hamann, Research Manager at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

Because the system can better predict how much renewable energy will be available, the nation’s power grids are better able to integrate that electricity with traditional forms of power.

IBM’s new computer algorithm, called Self-Learning Weather Model and Renewable Forecasting Technology (thankfully known as SMT), uses big data analytics and machine learning to improve solar forecasts. The system works by combining more than 1TB of data gleaned daily through more than 1,600 weather-monitoring stations and solar and wind plants in the continental U.S., as well as from weather satellites.

“The more data you put in, the smarter it gets,” said Hamann.

The SMT system continuously analyzes data to learn from and improve renewable energy forecasts. The data is derived from thousands of weather models around the continental U.S., as well as weather satellite images and images from cameras mounted at wind and solar farms that watch the sky for weather patterns.

In contrast, most current forecasting techniques rely on individual weather stations that offer a narrower view of the variables that affect the availability of renewable energy.

“By continuously training itself using historical records from thousands of weather stations and real time measurements, IBM’s system combines predictions from a number of weather models with geographic information and other data to produce the most accurate forecasts — from minutes to weeks ahead,” Siyuan Lu, Physical Analytics Researcher at IBM, said in a statement.

Today, only about 5% of U.S. electricity is generated from wind and solar resources, but the amount of power from renewables is growing rapidly.

Solar power, for example, is predicted to supply as much as 14% of the nation’s power in just 15 years and 27% by 2050. Currently, about 65% of U.S. power is derived from fossil fuel-generated power, such as coal, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Over the past two years, solar energy has been the second-largest source of new electricity generating capacity in the U.S., exceeded only by natural gas.

As the amount of solar and wind capacity continues to grow, it’s critical for regional power grids to know how much renewable electricity they’ll have in advance to better plan their capacity needs.

Power transmission in the U.S. is controlled by regional independent system operators (ISOs), which receive electricity from member utilities. For example, ISO New England Inc. manages the operation of the region’s bulk electric power system and transmission lines.

Power from traditional sources, such as fossil-fuel power plants and hydroelectric dams, is relatively stable and easy to predict. Renewable power, however, is at the whim of the weather; clouds, humidity and wind can affect how much renewable energy is generated from solar and wind turbines.

IBM’s SMT system takes in new data every 15 minutes, allowing it to predict and then inform ISOs how much energy is likely to be produced from solar and wind farms.

“By improving the accuracy of forecasting, utilities can operate more efficiently and profitably,” said Bri-Mathias Hodge, who oversees the Transmission and Grid Integration Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a collaborator in the SMT project. “That can increase the use of renewable energy sources as a more accepted energy generation option.”

Thousands of unlucky South Jersey residents were still without electricity Monday morning, six days after a violent storm knocked out power. Yet one local firm says customers could use its product to turn the lights back on, while they wait for utility providers to make a fix.

“We really think you should be able to have power whenever and wherever you need it,” said Heather Farber of NRG Home, which has offices in the Science Center in University City.

According to Philadelphia Business Journal, NRG Home, a division of Princeton, N.J.-based NRG Energy Inc., offers consumers several solar powered generators – something that may appeal to the more than 4,000 Atlantic City Electric customers who were still without electricity mid-day Monday.

“It is clean and quiet, and you can put it in your house,” said Farber, who calls the solar powered generators a better option than traditional gasoline powered models.

Companies and consumer advocacy groups regularly warn the public against using gas powered generators indoors since it puts residents at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

NRG Energy began offering the portable, fume-free generators after acquiring Goal Zero last summer.
The line includes three options, the Yeti 150, Yeti 400 and Yeti 1250 – each providing a different number of hours worth of power.

Goal Zero introduced the Yeti 1250 in 2012, and the other two solar generators followed in 2013.

The Yetis’ retail price ranges from around $200 to nearly $1,600, price points that cost the consumer hundreds of dollars more than the gas powered generators that support the same watt hours.

But Farber points out Yetis do not require any fuel, which over time will up the expense of the gasoline versions.

NRG Home declined to provide specifics on sales, but the company did say the 400 is the top seller.

Atlantic City Electric said it expected power to be restored by the end of the day to its customers, although frustrations already boiled over for many residents and at least one Gloucester County leader after nearly a week in the dark. The Greenwich Township mayor called for Gov. Chris Christie to do more to help his community.

Christie said Friday FEMA officials were on the ground and will determine if federal relief is needed by Tuesday.

Businesses and individuals can make use of a free smartphone app to calculate the renewable energy generation potential of a given location.

According to Green Biz, the Global Atlas pocket was launched recently by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and is designed to allow renewable energy “prospectors” and investors to comprehensively research projects before making early investment decisions.

The app draws on data from 1,000 maps provided by 67 governments and 50 data centers, and is designed to provide detailed information on whether a region or site represents a good prospect for renewable energy generation.

Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA’s director-general, said the app will help make it is easier for renewable energy firms to identify viable projects, curbing some costs of development.

“One of the major hurdles to worldwide renewable energy deployment is reaching the needed levels of investment,” he said in a statement. “The Global Atlas pocket brings more investment certainty to renewable energy prospectors and investors. Users can freely access data from geothermal potentials in the Caribbean to solar potentials in the Middle East and anything in between. It is an incredibly powerful tool.”

The app is being targeted at energy firms, governments and community project developers and is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry 10 smartphones.

Anita Marangoly George, senior director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, which supported development of the app, said it could prove particularly attractive to companies in developing countries.

“Through its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, the World Bank is making data-rich renewable energy resource maps of 12 developing countries available through IRENA’s Global Atlas,” she said. “As renewable resources take on a central role in countries’ energy planning, this information becomes increasingly important to governments, citizens and the private sector.”

The smartphone is an extension of IRENA’s online Global Atlas portal, which allows users to visualize information on renewable energy resources from any computer.

Great River Energy and its participating member cooperatives launched Revolt, a first-of-its kind program that allows members to upgrade the electricity used to fuel their vehicles to wind energy at no additional cost.

According to Windpower Engineering, renewable sources are already part of Great River Energy’s power mix, but the Revolt program provides a more direct connection between wind energy and the electric vehicle driver.

“Our Revolt program allows consumers to further support the use of renewable energy. We are dedicating wind energy to completely cover the electricity that a consumer uses to fuel an electric vehicle for the vehicle’s lifetime,” said David Ranallo, Great River Energy Revolt program manager. “We’re thrilled to offer this innovative program and hope it acts as a spark to ignite awareness around electric vehicles in Minnesota.”

To be eligible for participation in Revolt, a cooperative member must currently own, purchase or lease a plug-in electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle by December 31, 2016. A household can enroll up to four electric vehicles in the program. Standard or off-peak rates still apply for electricity used to fuel the vehicles.

“Electric vehicle owners are already some of the happiest drivers on the planet because they know they’re making a positive impact on the environment,” said Jukka Kukkonen, a plug-in vehicle owner who is a principal in PlugInConnect, a Minnesota consulting firm. “The Revolt program adds an innovative element by powering the vehicles completely from wind energy, which I see only bolstering the satisfaction of owning an electric vehicle.”

In addition to electric vehicle enthusiasts, Revolt is being lauded by leaders of organizations across Minnesota that promote the use of renewable energy.

“There has never been so much innovation going in to producing vehicles that are faster, safer, cleaner, and cheaper and easier to maintain,” said Michael Noble, executive director of Fresh Energy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for acceleration of Minnesota’s transition to a clean energy economy.

“Refueling with renewable electricity is a great vision for Great River Energy to advance and is ready to become more common than fueling with gasoline within the next 20 years.”

“We applaud Great River Energy for giving customers 100 percent renewable wind energy to recharge their electric vehicles. Making sure renewables are generating the ‘juice’ for an electric vehicle is the right way to go and provides a win-win product for their members,” said Beth Soholt, executive director of Wind on the Wires, a nonprofit organization which works to bring wind energy to market.

Tesla debuted an array of solar power storage systems on Thursday, intended for both homes and businesses. The Powerwall and larger Power Pack systems will allow users to store most of the electricity from their solar panels and use it as needed — at night, on cloudy days, even when the grid goes down.

According to pri.org, the systems will be based on the same lithium-ion battery technology Tesla uses in its cars, packaged in a sleek design with new controls designed specifically for homes and businesses.

It’s not a new idea, or even revolutionary technology, but Musk and Tesla’s investors are making a multi-billion dollar bet that their move into the stationary electricity storage market will be a game changer. The company is building a giant $5 billion battery factory in Nevada, and expects its vast production capacity will bring costs down by 30 percent.

With a well-recognized and well-respected brand, Tesla likely has an edge in the market and a big opportunity to cash in on the growth of solar power, improvements in battery technology and the fact that few competitors have paid much attention to design and usability.

But Musk has made it clear that his ambitions go beyond the success of his businesses. In announcing the Powerwall and Power Pack systems, Tesla’s CEO said his company’s goal is to “fundamentally change the way the world uses energy on an extreme scale,” away from fossil fuels and to cleaner renewables like wind and solar.

Whether the company’s ambitions will be met, of course, remains to be seen. But some observers also have high hopes.

“When I read about it, I thought, ‘OK, let’s put one in my house,’” says Richard Hirsh, who teaches the history of science and technology at Virginia Tech. “I currently have a gasoline powered generator as a back-up unit because, where I live, we have had some power problems. But that’s always a pain. … I’d love to have a battery that will provide power when we don’t have it.”

Hirsh says physicists and battery makers have made incremental improvements in battery technology since the early 1800s, when Allesandro Volta of Italty first figured out how to make what we would today consider a battery. “A good, cheap, economical and efficient battery has been the Holy Grail for battery makers,” Hirsh says.

As to whether the company can deliver a commercially viable system for storing green power, Hirsch says he’s “hopeful that Tesla has come up with this — but only time will tell.”

The Nyngan solar plant in western New South Wales began generating power into the National Electricity Market, with the first of the 25MW completed to date feeding into the Australia’s main grid.

According to Reneweconomy, far 350,000 solar PV panels have been installed by First Solar, with four times that much to be completed in the coming the months to take its nominated capacity to 102MW.

It is the first of two plants being built by AGL Energy, with the 53MW Broken Hill plant also under construction.

Nyngan is the first solar plant to be visible on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s market, as this graph provided by NEM Watch shows.

It is thought that there are several dozen large scale solar projects in planning mode – ranging from several MWs to “mega projects such as a 2GW plan for western Queensland, but most are on hold because of uncertainty about there renewable energy target.

The Nyngan and Broken Hill projects are being supported by funding under the government’s now defunct solar flagships program, with the funds now managed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The only other large solar plants being constructed are in the ACT, under the territory’s solar auction process.

AGL’s head of merchant energy, Anthony Fowler, said this is a significant milestone for Australia’s largest utility-scale solar PV plant.

“First generation represents a great achievement for all the project stakeholders. It has required close coordination between local electricity distributor Essential Energy, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), project partner First Solar and AGL to facilitiate this successful milestone,” Mr Fowler said.

The NSW Government, which contributed $64.9 million towards the $290 million plant, said it was strongly committed to the transition to renewable energy through projects such as this.

NSW Environment minister Rob Stokes said there are an estimated 13,000 jobs supported by renewable energy in NSW, mostly in regional areas. “The development of projects in regional NSW has the potential to provide traditional farming communities with alternative income streams that are not rainfall dependent,” Stokes said.

Jack Curtis, First Solar’s Asia-Pacific regional manager said the first generation at Nyngan represents an important milestone, especially as it relates to the broader power sector’s adoption of utility-scale solar as a meaningful contributor to Australia’s generation mix.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated AGL on the achievement and said the project is paving the way for more large-scale solar plants to be built in Australia.

“AGL’s solar project will help bring down the cost of similar plants, making them more competitive. In addition to creating jobs, boosting skills and contributing to local communities, the development of utility-scale solar is vital to a diverse energy future,” Frischknecht said.

It is thought that there are several dozen large scale solar projects in planning mode – ranging from several MWs to “mega projects such as a 2GW plan for western Queensland, but most are on hold because of uncertainty about there renewable energy targe.