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Tesla's Musk discusses
energy proposal with South Australian government
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 [March 11, 2017]
By Harry Pearl
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk
spoke with the premier of South Australia on Saturday after the tech
entrepreneur offered to install $25 million of battery storage within
100 days to prevent recurring blackouts that have disrupted the state.
The proposal follows a string of power outages, including a blackout
that left industry crippled for up to two weeks and stoked fears of more
outages across the national electricity market due to tight supplies.
"Just spoke with Premier of South Australia (Jay Weatherill). Very
impressed. Govt is clearly committed to a smart, quick solution," Musk
wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
Weatherill said in a statement on Saturday the conversation about the
battery proposal was "positive".
Musk made the offer on Twitter on Friday, saying if the work was not
completed in 100 days it would be free.
His proposal made headlines in Australia, which is in the midst of a
heated debate about the national electricity market and energy security.
Musk proposed the battery storage fix in response to a comment on social
media by Mike Cannon-Brookes, the co-founder of Australian software
maker Atlassian Corp.
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Tesla Chief Executive, Elon Musk enters the lobby of Trump Tower in
Manhattan, New York, U.S., January 6, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon
Stapleton/File Photo
Cannon-Brookes said he would be willing to line up funding and political support
if Tesla could supply batteries that would solve South Australia's problems.
Musk responded by tweeting: "Tesla will get the system installed and working 100
days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?"
He quoted a price of $250 per kilowatt hour for 100 megawatt hour systems, which
would imply a price of $25 million for the battery packs.
(Reporting by Harry Pearl; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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