ABC glorifies mediocre mini TESLA battery

After 4 months operation the ABC says – How Elon Musk’s big Tesla battery is changing Australia’s power landscape – Note!! South Australia still has the highest prices in the NEM. – The reality about the midget battery from the source report from Energy Synapse is rather different. Four months in, SA Tesla battery is showing mixed results in energy arbitrage – Other quotes from Energy Synapse in italics, mine bold. – Tesla battery is being heavily utilised – the Tesla battery consumed an average of 116 MWh per day for charging. In contrast, it delivered an average of 94 MWh per day back into the grid. …average efficiency of the battery has been 82%. against…spec sheet efficiency of 88% – Tesla battery made $1.4 million in the energy market, but is losing money 47% of the time – “$1.4mill is Chickenfeed!!” – the Tesla battery made 95% of its net revenue in just five (very volatile) days – “welcome to most of the boring year where profit will be difficult to graft” – on 57 days (47%) the Tesla battery actually lost money in the energy market – the operators of the battery will need to be careful to avoid needlessly cycling the battery for little financial gain – “buy low, sell high” is not as easy as it sounds. The energy market is incredibly complex – Some food for thought as the race to build big batteries begins. As usual where renewables are concerned Australia is rushing in before engineering solutions are proven. And much of the above will apply to Snowy 2.0. AEMO has a report on the TESLA battery too but it only looks at FCAS. I would say in reply to AEMO – “our grid got by for decades before this wasteful toy battery”