Humanity has been on a wrong foot for centuries addicted to consuming fossil fuels. So far this dinosaur juice extracted from depths of the planet has served as a cheap commodity on which big oil companies have selfishly flourished. And we know countries went on wars just to get more of it. Many lives have been lost but all of this is coming to an end as world is shifting to electricity.
There are two main categories of producing electricity. One is by burning fossil fuels used for compensating peak demands and other is from renewable sources like Wind, Solar, Hydro etc. So from here when I say Electricity, I’m mainly referring to the second one which is aka “Clean Electricity“.
In the lifetime of electricity, the problem wasn’t how to generate more of it? But where to store it? This major hurdle is about to be solved with idea of storing electricity into batteries. In next decade, the cost of battery is expected to go below holy grail of affordably i.e.$100 per kWh.
Here’s industry popular Lithium-ion battery price shown in graph from 2010 fallen drastically down to 80% so far. And some analyst predict it may go under $100 even before 2024.
The fact that Electricity can be generated abundantly and it’s now possible to store it into big battery boxes made up of smaller scalable batteries. As I mentioned in the title “Electricity is the new oil“, so here’s where it gets interesting. This Electricity can not only be stored in enormous quantity but can also be re-sold back to the grid. Just like Stock Market.
Buying electricity at night when its priced low and selling when prices go high during daytime. Storing electricity from renewable sources and making money from excess, has never been so simple. For e.g. By using Tesla’s Megapack (just a name for a “bigger battery”) and their Autobidder software it’s now possible to automatically buy electricity and sell it back to the National grid for profits. That’s why – Electricity is the new Oil people!
What is Tesla’s Autobidder software?
Its a software which uses algorithms based on numerous mathematical techniques including classical statistics, machine learning and numerical optimization to perform:
- Price forecasting
- Load forecasting
- Generation forecasting
- Dispatch optimization
- Smart bidding
Autobidder was designed to collaborate with and augment the capabilities of human operators. Autobidder continuously executes transactions in the market using a numerical optimization model that is based on the parameters set and adjusted by a human operator, reflecting the preferences of the trading desk.
Real world implementations
And it’s already been done is various countries.
- In the UK, the National Grid (using 6 Tesla Megapacks of 15 MWh capacity) reported saving £718 million ($932 million) in balancing costs from March to July 2020. [1]
- In Australia the Horsdale Power Reserve now the second largest lithium-ion battery nearly 200MWh has helped South Australian Government save millions in state-wide blackout and load-shedding incident. [2]
- Tiny island of Taʻū, Samoa in USA have been using diesel generators to power its island’s electricity. Using upto 300 gallons per day. Its now able to generate 13.6 MWh of electricity from all three main sources of renewables.
That’s truly AMAZING. I mean if anyone doesn’t see $$ in their eyes whilst saving planet, must be the most ill-advised people still fighting over oil. These kinds of distributed power grids or smart grids are coming-up all over the world, as communities are realising its clean potential and to overthrow fossil fuel for good.
Welcome to the world of Microgrids
In countries like Sweden, Wales and many other places in the world, there are new housings communities built up with this concept. In simple words houses or buildings are now built with batteries. Integrating batteries with renewable sources like solar on rooftops is where the future is heading. Such energy grid is called “Microgrid”and it provides
- Generating, Storing and Distributing electricity with a Controller
- Decentralize energy helps disconnect from a national grid
- Using clean electricity and reducing electric bill from grid
- And in some cases earn from excess electricity produced
If this is applied to say country like USA, transitioning to 100% green energy could save them $321 billion in energy costs each year while dramatically reducing economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report by Rewiring America.
Microgrids are going to be very popular in new upcoming housing plans. And they offer a solution of plug-and-play even to the existing energy infrastructure for industry or home. If its connected with Solar PVC or Wind turbines then the potential are endless with exception of initial installation expenditure.
Revolution Electrified’s Take
Electricity was always there even before fossil fuels become mainstream for transport, household and commercial use. Yes oil has brought us out of the darkness from old times but it’s time to turn-off the lamp and switch to something better. The world was just hooked up on burning more fossil fuel like a pack of cigarettes and its finding it hard now to quit.
This will soon be realised by all governments and energy companies as there is no future left in fossil fuel when clean energy can do same profitably. So when this idea of Microgrids becomes mainstream there will be no demand left for oil. What happened to coal is going to happen with oil and rest of the fossil fuels. Let’s help planet switch to emission-free Clean Electricity.
Companies like GE, Siemens, Panasonic etc have been offering similar solutions but what Tesla has done is to congregate all such initiatives into an utopian reality. So mid of next decade having electric car on the driveway with solar powered house connected to Powerwall battery will not be just a dream but will be a norm.
