Elon Musk Vs Grid?

Investment bank Morgan Stanley says the global electricity utility industry,
. . . is still underestimating the potential of EV maker Tesla, [and Solar City]
. . . to achieve a dramatic reduction in battery storage costs, [and Solar Panels Costs]
. . . luring more and more consumers to go “off-grid.”

Most battery manufacturers, produce around 40MW to 50MW per annum.
. . . Tesla is proposing one of 1,000MW – and perhaps many more,
. . . slashing the capital cost of Tesla’s battery from the current,
. . . $250/kWh to $150/kWh by 2020,
. . . whereas its closest competitor will be at a cost of ~$500/kWh.

“We believe there is not sufficient appreciation of,
. . . the magnitude of energy storage cost reduction [and Solar Panels Costs],
. . . that Tesla [and Solar City] has already achieved,
. . . nor of the further cost reduction magnitude [they] might be able to achieve.
. . . once the company has constructed its “Gigafactory,”
. . . targeted for completion later in the decade.“

This, of course, has massive implication for the incumbent utilities,
. . . not to mention for other consumers.
The immediate response for networks,
. . . has been to seek to raise fixed charges to protect their revenue,
. . . an option that Morgan Stanley says will be counter-productive.

The importance of Morgan Stanley’s analysis is, however, that
. . . while the costs of the networks are fixed, and rising,
. . . the costs of these new disruptive technologies will continue to fall, and
. . . quicker than the incumbents realise.

Morgan Stanley says it is the scale of Tesla’s battery production,
. . . even for its own use as an auto manufacturer, that thrusts the company,
. . . into ‘key player’ status for grid storage.
Tesla Model S (85 kWh) can store enough energy,
. . . to power the average US household for 3.5 days.

08-06-2014 Source:  Elon Musk VS Grid?