Gary Eastwood and SB Solutions offer the Solar Industry:
As an Executive Search Firm, we're passionate about assisting Solar manufacturers, providers and installation firms in growing their respective companies through a cost-effective, next generation business model, optimizing talent acquisition results and service while lowering your aggregate fee payout.
In addition to helping our Solar / Renewable Energy Clients grow their businesses, I'm looking for qualified, passionate Professionals, including Sales / Business Development and Managers; Project Managers; Solar Design Engineers; Solar Contractors / Installers.
If you would like to receive more information on the solar industry, please send us your contact information.
Contact us now to see how SBS can help you to solve your talent acquisition challenges:
Powerwall—An expensive step in the right direction?
Tesla's new home solar battery offering, the Powerwall storage unit is listed at $3500. However, installed, a homeowner's investment will be in the neighborhood of $7000. This power source will NOT keep your air conditioner running, or your cable televisions on. This battery system is capable of about the same 'keeping the lights on' level of power as gasoline-operated generators that a person can purchase at WalMart from $179 to $989. The technology is awesome. Where the rubber meets the road--is who can afford this product and does it solve a genuine need?
The advantages? Several utility companies offer time-based pricing, where electricity rates are lower during off-peak times. These plans are sometimes called time-of-use pricing, time-based rate, or variable peak pricing. A homeowner will recognize some ROI, but it will take years to recoup the investment in this technology. Is it worth $7000 to solve a problem that can be solved adequately for a fraction of the cost?
There are specific cases--recently the LA Times published an article about a Palm Springs area retiree who requires an electric wheel chair and drives a Prius that installed a MicroGrid to ensure that she could remain living independently. For some people, the investment can make sense. However, the prohibitive expense of utilizing Powerwall technology is NOT enough to take the average Southern California home off the grid. 'Off-grid electricity supply will remain punishingly expensive for the foreseeable future,' according to Analyst Hugh Wynne, Bernstein Research.
SolarCity, the solar panel installer company run by Musk's cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive, will be include the Powerwall battery in future packages, with a lease price of $5000 and an installed price of $7140, when included in a rooftop residential solar panel installation / financing contract. Again, for the majority of homeowners, the rare occurrences or long power outages can hardly justify the cost. To install a completely off-the-grid solar system, a home would have to install a significantly larger set of solar panels and at least two Powerwall batteries at a cost of $96,000 (without subsidies), which would equate to an investment of around 74 years of equivalent electric bills. The ROI is many, many years away for the average homeowner.
This technology is necessary. The largest drawback to solar power is the lack of a reliable storage medium, so Tesla's R&D into this aspect of the solar energy challenge is awesome. The drawback to the current Powerwall product offering appears to be, a high-end product that doesn't necessarily solve any huge problems. The reality is, even assuming the cost of solar and batteries decline by over 80% and that clean energy is incentivized, this system will cost 2.5 times more than purchasing energy from the grid.
In terms of environmental benefits, the Powerwall product delivers in big ways. It uses no energy, especially no fossil fuel, which could also run out in the event of an earthquake or other emergency. It requires no venting or other alterations to a residential garage. It's unobtrusive, when hanging on a garage wall.
Are there ANY immediate needs / markets for the Powerwall storage solution? Areas with extremely high power costs such as Hawaii or in developing nations without a reliable grid structure, solar panels, coupled with the Powerwall could provide an immediate solution, but is the cost still too prohibitive to the people it would benefit the most?
The anticipation in the clean tech community is, that as more utilities allow rate changes throughout the day to accommodate peak usage hours and off-hour usage, that the system could be used to save money using home-generated when grid prices are at a peak. In the next evolution of storage technology, networking groups of battery systems will be able to create complete off-grid residential / commercial systems that will make practical use of the technology being developed to develop virtual power plants and to truly empower individuals to disengage from fossil fuels. The hope is, that if storage is stable enough, excess electricity can be re-sold back to utilities during peak periods.
Potentially, commercial users can benefit from this technology--IF they commit NOT to exceed a set maximum power, they can make significant savings from their Utility, particularly if they have larger solar arrays in jurisdictions that offer feed-in tariffs lower than utility rates.
Currently, Tesla and Elon Musk, are coming under some scrutiny for both the high risks, high prices of product offerings and also for taking advantage of multiple Government subsidies, totaling over $4 Billion. Musk makes an excellent case for both the radical R&D in new technologies; refuting all arguments for Tesla taking (legally) the subsidies they're entitled to; contrasting the relatively low figure to how many billions and trillions in subsidies and bailouts the US Government has extended to fossil fuels (Oil / Gas, the Automotive Industry), the finance / banking industry and it's pennies on the dollar.
Has the Powerwall entirely transformed residential / commercial solar storage? No, but as a first step toward energy independence and reduction of fossil fuels, not to mention reducing strain on the grid, Powerwall technology will certainly be pivotal, as the company and the renewables industry evolve. The Powerwall is the perfect example of walking before we run--to solar.