Turnbull amped on Elon Musk’s energy storage plan after call

Malcolm Turnbull’s government stands ready to fund and support serious proposals for new energy storage projects.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk listens as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with technology industry leaders at Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Malcolm Turnbull’s government stands ready to fund and support serious proposals for new energy storage projects which have been “long neglected” in Australia’s electricity system, after an hour-long phone call yesterday to US clean energy multi-billionaire Elon Musk.

The Prime Minister, who asked the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Fina­nce Corporation last month to collaborate on a new funding round for large-scale storage, took to Twitter yesterday afternoon to thank Mr Musk for a “great in-depth discussion about energy storage” and “delivering affordable and reliable electricity”.

The founder of electric car and solar battery systems company Tesla responded: “You’re most welcome. Very exciting to discuss the future of electricity. Renewables + storage arguably biggest disruption since DC to AC.”

The public Twitter conference between technology billionaires and key players in Australia’s power crisis began on Thursday, when Mr Musk told his 7.7 million followers he was so confident he could fix South Australia’s energy problems that Tesla would get a 100MW solar and battery system installed and working within 100 days of signing a contract, or it would be free.

The renewables-reliant state has been affected by a series of blackouts with the closure of a coal-fired plant at Port Augusta, high prices and powerful storms which damaged infrastructure placing a heavy reliance on an inter­connector with Victoria.

More blackouts are forecast once French company Engie closes its 1600MW Victorian coal-fired power plant Hazelwood at the end of the month.

Mr Musk estimated power from his proposed battery system could be generated for $250/KWh.

His offer was prompted by a challenge from Australian tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of software company Atlassian, who asked Mr Musk and SolarCity founder Lyndon Rive how serious they were about their offer to provide a solar power and battery solution.

Mr Musk, who estimates his 100MW battery farm would cost $33.2 million, said he was “very impressed­” with South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill, who was “clearly committed to a smart, quick solution”, after their 20-minute conversation on the weekend. The entrepreneur, who recently merged solar energy outfit SolarCity with Tesla to become a clean energy business, has built a 20MW lithium ion battery storage farm, the world’s largest, in southern California to support the grid during peak usage.

Mr Weatherill has said talks with Mr Musk were “positive” and he said many local and inter­national companies had brought proposals to his government since he declared he would make a dramatic intervention in the market.