The latest thing from Musk is the Tesla Powerwall – a lithium-ion battery pack intended for domestic storage of energy for such purposes as load shifting, backup power and self consumption of solar power generation. Two versions of Powerwall have been announced, with capacities of 7 and 10kWh. Each unit produces 2kW (3.3kW peak).
Energy storage is one of the things missing from the renewables effort; what's the point in having an array of solar panels if you can't store the power generated for your own use, some may ask. And, on a larger scale, how can the energy created by all the forms of renewables be stored efficiently for general use?
Using Powerwall in the home will need an inverter, plus some other bits and pieces of technology – none of which are included in the device's $3000 price tag.
While Powerwall is a contribution to the problem, it's by no means the solution.
