Premier Jay Weatherill to have more talks with Tesla boss Elon Musk, who can build battery farm to solve SA’s power issues

PREMIER Jay Weatherill is expected to hold more talks with one of the world’s leading entrepreneurs in coming days as they develop plans to build a huge battery farm to address South Australia’s energy crisis.

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PREMIER Jay Weatherill is expected to hold further talks with one of the world’s leading entrepreneurs in coming days as they develop plans to build a huge battery farm to address South Australia’s energy crisis.

Billionaire Elon Musk has flagged that his US-based company, Tesla, could build a 100 megawatt hour battery farm for $33 million in less than four months after gaining approval.

Such a system could help the state avoid a repeat of recent blackouts because of load-shedding. Mr Musk revealed via Twitter on Saturday that he had spoken by phone with Mr Weatherill, with whom he was “very impressed”.

He described the State Government as “clearly committed to a smart, quick solution” to the state’s power woes. Mr Weatherill later confirmed he had “positive discussions” with Mr Musk “regarding his battery proposal” in a call that is understood to have lasted about 20 minutes. The pair are expected to speak again in coming days.

Mr Weatherill said “many” local and international businesses had come forward with proposals in the weeks since the Government pledged to intervene in the national energy market. However, he would not say how many.

The Government has faced criticism for delays in releasing its energy plan, but Mr Weatherill yesterday said it would be made public “very soon”.

He did not comment on whether Mr Musk’s proposal was part of that plan, but a spokesman said it was “consistent” with the Government’s thinking. The spokesman said the Government did not rule out committing money to the battery farm project.

According to figures quoted by Mr Musk, the SA system would cost $33.2 million. Shipping, taxes and installation costs would be extra.

His initial comments, via Twitter on Friday, were prompted by a challenge from fellow tech-billionaire, Australian Mike Cannon-Brookes.

The exchange came after Tesla’s battery division boss, Lyndon Rive, said the company was capable of installing battery storage in SA of up to 300MWh.

Mr Cannon-Brookes, the founder of software company Atlassian and estimated to be worth $2 billion, asked Mr Musk: “If I can make the $ happen (and politics), can you guarantee the 100MW in 100 days?”

ThePayPal co-founder Mr Musk, who has a fortune of $13 billion and launches advanced spacecraft via his SpaceX company, responded with: “Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?”

Mr Cannon-Brookes said he would now try to sort out “politics and funding”.

After Mr Musk’s tweets yesterday, Mr Cannon-Brookes responded with: “Wow, that escalated fast. Brilliant. SA led in delivering aggressive renewable targets & now being attacked for it.”

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the Tesla proposal was a “game-changer” for SA.

“To make batteries work, the Government will have to change the energy market rules so the market can’t keep being gamed by the big old power companies who’ve been screwing SA for too long,” she said.

Supporting the Tesla proposal are businesses such as Australian Telstra Business Woman of the Year and Suntrix Solar founder Jenny Paradiso, and the tech community including Startup Adelaide and SouthStart director Steve Barrett, and accounting firm Accodex’s Michael Macolino.

Not-for-profit association Clean Energy Council chief executive Kane Thornton said the future power system would include much more wind and solar power, supported by battery storage.

“As the cost of batteries continue to plummet and the need for energy storage increases, we can expect to see a lot more interest from entrepreneurs and financiers,” he said.