Tesla’s Elon Musk, Atlassian boss supercharge energy debate

“My phone is on fire,” says Atlassian’s Mike Cannon-Brookes after he challenged Elon Musk to fix SA’s energy crisis.

Atlassian boss Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Atlassian boss Mike Cannon-Brookes says he has been “inundated with support” after seemingly landing an ambitious deal with US tech magnate Elon Musk to help solve South Australia’s energy crisis.

“My phone is on fire! It’s flooding in, both from individuals in terms of ‘hell yes!’ and from corporates who are asking: ‘Can we buy power? Can we contribute dollars?’ Mr Cannon-Brookes told The Weekend Australian.

“Now, I need to make it happen — over the next seven days I’ve got to try and sort out politics and funding. Super excited and pumped to make this happen.”

Mr Musk told the world on Thursday he was so confident he could fix South Australia’s energy woes that Tesla would get a statewide system installed and working within 100 days of signing a contract, or it would be free. The South African-born entrepreneur, who runs electric car giant Tesla, which recently merged with his solar energy outfit SolarCity, was responding to Mr Cannon-Brookes, who tweeted “Holy s#%t” in reference to the plans.

“(SolarCity co-founder) Lyndon & @elonmusk — how serious are you about this bet? If I can make the $ happen (& politics), can you guarantee the 100MW in 100 days?” Mr Cannon-Brookes asked.

“Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?” was Mr Musk’s response.

This prompted a “you’re on mate” from Mr Cannon-Brookes, who asked for “mates rates” on a quote for 100-megawatt hours of batteries, needed to prevent frequent blackouts in South Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill was quick to join in, saying he had “reached out” and was “looking forward to the discussion”. Meanwhile, members of the public were urging Malcolm Turnbull to accept Mr Musk’s offer, with a petition circulating on change.org calling on the Prime Minister to implement it.

As The Australian reported yesterday, Lyndon Rive, Mr Musk’s cousin, claimed in Melbourne that Tesla’s battery technology could both solve SA’s energy crisis and help restore the power shortfall from the Hazelwood power plant closure in Victoria.

Tesla’s lithium-ion battery systems store excess power generated from solar energy for later use and can also send excess power to the grid.

Tesla did not have batteries sitting in its US factory ready to dispatch for these Australian solutions, but “would make them in time to get here”, Mr Rive told reporters.

Mr Musk’s arrival on the scene, paired with the local tech prowess of Mr Cannon-Brookes, has certainly got the potential to supercharge the energy debate.