Potential Tesla acquisition of SolarCity means more uncertainty for utilities
June 22, 2016 | By
April Nowicki
Tesla Motors made an offer to buy Solar City Tuesday, marking one of the company's biggest steps into the clean energy industry to date. Tesla has been making moves toward creating an end-to-end power supply, storage and distribution system, and this development further indicates a future of uncertainty for electric utilities. If the acquisition is completed, Tesla will be "the world's only vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean energy products," according to a statement Tesla released Tuesday. That revolutionary company would allow consumers even more choices in how they use energy, which could several future changes for electric grids in the U.S. "I think utilities have been facing this possibility already," said Neil Strother, principal research analyst for energy at Navigant Research, in an interview with SmartGridNews. "It's another sign that solar storage combined with other potential alternatives are just in this ever-changing landscape for electric businesses." Strother said that this potential development doesn't necessarily indicate that power demand will change tremendously, and noted that utilities are already dealing with uncertainty when planning for resources and distribution for the next 10 to 20 years. "Demand has been relatively flat for a number of reasons," he said. "There is a lot of efficiency in appliances and lighting and other factors that have led to not a great increase in demand for electricity." Last year, Vermont's Green Mountain Power partnered with Tesla as the first utility in the U.S. to offer home batteries to customers. Tesla's battery, the Powerwall, was previously capable of pairing with solar panels to create and store energy. An end-to-end power system that allows consumers to generate more and more of their own electricity could mean decreased demand, Strother said, or could keep it staying flat. "There could be a spike in population or a decrease in certain pockets of the country," he said. "I think that is a challenge for utilities. They just don't know." Energy company E.ON began selling solar-plus-storage residential systems this year in Germany. For more: |