Tesla’s Powerwall home battery is coming to Australia in 2015

Tesla Motors’ power-distribution offshoot Tesla Energy has announced that Australia will be one of the first markets to receive its Powerwall home battery storage systems, which could potentially revolutionise the domestic power industry.

Launched back in May, Tesla’s Powerwall battery has the potential to change how the average household consumes energy. Users might also charge their Powerwall during offpeak periods, run their homes off the pack during peak hours and thereby reduce their bills.

In some places, under some tariffs, solar plus battery storage is already cheaper than grid power.

However, such a system requires energy to be “bought back” later in the day when lights, computers and TVs get switched on, limiting the actual cost savings of solar power generation.

With blocks to the acceptance of solar power – like our former Prime Minister – recently being removed, could this signal a move towards wider adoption of renewable energy in Australia?

The first Tesla Powerwall 7 kWh units will arrive on our shores in November this year; heralding the real start of Australia’s residential energy storage revolution.

Tesla said on Thursday that it would be launching its 7kWh home energy storage units in Australia in late 2015, alongside North America and the DACH market in Europe, through a “growing list” of Tesla Energy partners.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts 33GWh of storage in Australia within 20 years, accompanied by 37GW of rooftop solar. You can also install multiple batteries together.

This fight is already happening. Business Insider statistics that often Tesla’s Powerwall will just be heading out on promotion in Australia at the end of right now. But a Powerwall and solar panel will never be enough to take a house entirely off the grid, and that means retailers and generators will still draw their fixed fee – all while having to produce less power. Reposit announced in May that its technology would be integrated with the Tesla battery storage unit. That’s inevitable, from the uptake Australia has already had for solar and from the likely uptake of Powerwall and its competitors.

Maybe when that happens, the extortionate fixed prices to stay connected to the grid might go down.