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UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST MAY 2015 | 25 Customers Analysis E lectric car company Tesla Motors, headed by dynamic chief executive Elon Musk, created a wave in the national and international press with the launch of its range of electricity storage bat- teries for homes, businesses and utilities, which not only has the energy sector talking, but much of the general public as well. Putting the hype to one side, could this new technology be what is needed to provide a much-needed push towards whole-system integration? Musk said the company's endgame is "complete transformation of the entire energy infrastructure of the world", and, since the news broke, the Twittersphere has been full of bold declarations about how "Tesla is killing nuclear and fossil fuels". If it sounds like hubris coming from the Canadian-American serial entrepreneur, con- sider that Musk has more reason to believe in his own judgement than most 43-year-olds. He is aer all a co-founder of Paypal, and has the kudos, and the money, you would expect that to deliver. Catherine Mitchell, professor of energy policy at Exeter University, goes so far as to describe the technology, or rather the poten- tial for competitive energy storage generally, as "another nail in the coffin of conventional utilities". She warns that, as decentralised energy systems based on renewable energy and demand management become more and more attractive, the need for effective energy storage increases. "The question is no longer whether decentralisation will happen within the energy system, but when the tipping point will be," she says. "Increasingly we are seeing a move away from big, centralised power infrastructure towards a decentral- ised system in which interconnectors and smarter, more flexible distribution grids play a bigger role." So far, details are scarce on how Tesla will scale up its domestic Powerwall battery for utility-scale operations, but the company has said that battery blocks with a capacity of 100kWh will be used to provide network storage solutions of between 500kWh and 10MWh capacity. At a recent seminar at Utility Week Live, Mott MacDonald's group strategic devel- opment manager, Simon Harrison, made a compelling case for a systems architect, which would have "whole-system respon- sibility" around protocols and standards guidelines, and would create the "resilience and flexibility" in response to the "very fast- moving environment we're in". Phil Taylor, director of the Institute for Sustainability at Newcastle University, says a systems architect has "the potential to offer much-needed leadership through independ- ent, transparent design and decision-making to take us forward through the low-carbon transition". But Chiltern Power director John Scott warns that National Grid must "understand the impact [of the technology] at a whole sys- tem level" to avoid "unwelcome and costly" outcomes. He tells Utility Week that if 5 per cent of UK households bought a Powerwall bat- tery, had access to a time-of-use tariff with a nationwide low price for energy, and instructed their home storage to start charg- ing at the same time, "it could create a 3GW load step that would shut down the National Grid". This, Harrison says, is "the sort of thing that brings governments down and even causes riots". Scott suggests that the networks are unlikely to be developers of storage systems themselves. "However, they may engage at a larger scale, with battery systems connected to the networks at higher voltages," he says. Harrison tells Utility Week the batteries could be a way for a network company to "avoid having to increase network capacity", therefore "deferring or avoiding investment". He also suggests that, unless this technology can be linked to benefits for network compa- nies, the advantages to consumers of being able to store electricity would be "marginal". "It will be interesting to see how these batteries are marketed over the longer term, and how consumers make use of their poten- tial to reduce electricity costs," he says. "For example, in theory, people could opt for an Economy 7 electricity tariff and then use the battery to store the electricity to access it during the day, when electricity prices are typically more expensive. However, with present day differentials of around 9p/kWh, payback would be marginal, unless it could be linked to other benefits, for example for network companies." The Energy Networks Association (ENA) notes that "challenges and innovation" in the distribution networks will "undoubtedly be required to facilitate a low-carbon transi- tion", but points out that "network opera- tors are already trialling larger-scale battery storage technology to help accommodate increased renewable energy and shiing demand patterns over the coming years". Harrison advises the energy industry and government to build new ways of modelling the "phenomena that are going to emerge in this changed world". The need for whole-system integration is clear. Now that the general election is over and we have governmental certainty for the next five years, will the announcement of Tesla's Powerwall battery help set in motion the implementation of a systems architect? "Let's get the agreement on what the problem is and what the solutions need to look like," says Harrison. "Then maybe the institutional form can follow." Tesla electrifies storage Putting the hype aside, could Tesla's new Powerwall battery be the technology that sparks the implementation of a systems architect and the benefits of whole-system integration? Lois Vallely reports. Powerwall specifications 10kWh model optimised for backup applications 7kWh model optimised for daily cycle applications 2kW continuous power 3.3kW peak power 350V minimum voltage 450V maximum voltage –20C minimum operating temperature 43C maximum operating temperature 130 x 86 x dimensions 18cm 100kWh battery blocks are grouped for utility- scale systems (500kWh to 10MWh+)