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Hathaway Energy: It is not yet possible to get off the grid with batteries","berkshire-hathaway-energy-it-is-not-yet-possible-to-get-off-the-grid-with-batteries","article/berkshire-hathaway-energy-it-is-not-yet-possible-to-get-off-the-grid-with-batteries",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":560,"content":570,"excerpt":683,"featured":50,"reporter":684,"_editable":688,"component":689,"seo_title":553,"categories":690,"visibility":697,"author_company":49,"featured_image":698,"seo_description":683,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":703,"formattedArticleDate":704},"2976259b-83d0-4b6e-92e1-b6d63ff2e20e","2017-01-25 00:00",[],[561],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":564},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":565,"image":566,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":567},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":571,"content":572},"doc",[573,580,585,590,595,600,605,610,615,618,625,630,635,640,645,650,653,658,663,668,673,678],{"type":574,"attrs":575,"content":576},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[577],{"text":578,"type":579},"Benchmark Mineral Intelligence gains exclusive access to Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s thoughts on the future of energy sources, the role of energy storage and how it is too expensive today for individual homes to get off the grid","text",{"type":574,"attrs":581,"content":582},{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":579},"By Simon Moores ",{"type":574,"attrs":586,"content":587},{"textAlign":49},[588],{"text":589,"type":579},"It is a question that is one of the most commonly asked in the battery industry: is it possible for individual homes to get off the grid? The concept of being able to install a battery to power your home has had added impetus in recent months through Tesla’s controversial purchase of SolarCity and the move to connect solar power as a low cost energy source.",{"type":574,"attrs":591,"content":592},{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":579},"In Hong Kong, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence gained exclusive access to Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s (BHE) thoughts on this. “I did some math on [the cost of stored power] from a Tesla Powerwall,” explained Jonathan Weisgall, Vice President of Government Relations at BHE in a keynote address at the annual CLSA Investor Forum. “It boils down to about 30-35c/ kWh. We are selling our electricity at 10-11c/kWh cents to our customers.”",{"type":574,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":579},"What was most intriguing was BHE’s analysis of the amount of power an average home in Des Moines, Iowa, US, would need to store to safely be off the grid without fear of shortages.",{"type":574,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":579},"The firm estimates that 53 days of stored power would be needed to achieve this goal, the equivalent of 1,650kWh because of the variability of solar power and the variability of energy demand in the home.",{"type":574,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":579},"This would equate to 258 6.4kWh Tesla Powerwalls together with an 8kWh solar rooftop system each at an installed cost of just over $6,000 Berkshire Hathaway Energy: It is not yet possible to get off the grid with batteries per unit – a total of $1.57m for a personal user to get off the grid, in BHE’s analysis.",{"type":574,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":579},"“We did the same analysis for Nevada and Oregon. In Nevada, where the sun shines a lot more, you would need 1,300kWh of energy storage while in Portland, and if you’ve been to Portland you will realise the sun doesn’t shine much, customers would need a 3,000kWh system,” BHE explained. “Even if you drop this price by 90% it is still prohibitively expensive.”",{"type":574,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":619,"attrs":620,"content":622},"heading",{"level":621,"textAlign":49},3,[623],{"text":624,"type":579},"Giving the people want they want",{"type":574,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":579},"However, BHE which has significant investments in solar was bullish on the future prospects of both cheaper private solar and energy storage. “We are not pro or anti solar, but [despite these numbers] our customers are demanding solar energy and the US is giving it to them,” Weisgall said.",{"type":574,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":579},"It is an intriguing development that in today’s world, it appears for a portion of the market environmental decisions are trumping economic rationale. For example, BHE explained that rooftop or “private” solar is three times more expensive than “universal” or utility scale solar power.",{"type":574,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":579},"At the moment BHE, can sell solar power to the private market, that has not been stored in a battery, for 14cents/kWh while the cost of universal solar is 5 cents/kWh. “What we are seeing in 2016 is the overwhelming flow – I mean more than 90% new generation coming online nationwide – is either natural gas, solar or wind.",{"type":574,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":579},"Even non utilities are moving in this direction – 215 of the Fortune 500 companies are investing in greenhouse gas reductions and new energy initiatives. There is little doubt in BHE’s opinion the change is upon the energy industry.",{"type":574,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":579},"And as it so happens this is unforced change, not due to high prices or necessarily due to power shortages. “The industry is becoming more customer centric, [customers are dictating the future of the industry for the first time],” he said.",{"type":574,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":574,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":579},"“All of this is happening with relatively flat load growth, this wasn’t the case in the 1960s, 70s and 80s… in fact during the recession in 2008 we had negative load growth,” he added.",{"type":574,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661],{"text":662,"type":579},"The role of batteries will become increasingly critical in this space and BHE is one company that believes, while the technology is not yet there on a cost level for the personal user, it does hold the solution to the long-time problem of intermittent renewables. “Energy storage is the holy grail,” Weisgall explained, “…[stored power] will fill the gap and [solve the problems we have] with solar and wind.”",{"type":574,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[666],{"text":667,"type":579},"The cost of power to consumer remains the main barrier. Capital is now flowing into the lithium ion battery space from cell producers, car manufacturers and in government grants but Weisgall said that its been a big issue for venture capital to find a position in an industry that has been flooded by start up companies, particularly in Silicon Valley. “It’s been a big challenge – VCs biggest challenge has been investing in batteries. Progress has not been great [in the battery industry] and they are expensive,” he said.",{"type":574,"attrs":669,"content":670},{"textAlign":49},[671],{"text":672,"type":579},"However, as noted by BHE, there has been significant progress in the last two years and the battery sector is now benefitting from this rise in investment. This was perhaps summed up best by an Oxford University professor who made a comment to BHE during the talk.",{"type":574,"attrs":674,"content":675},{"textAlign":49},[676],{"text":677,"type":579},"“Five years ago at Oxford University, for love nor money, you couldn’t persuade any of the bright engineering graduates to have anything to do with batteries. This year the top engineering department graduate has received an OSI scholarship to dedicate his life to batteries.”",{"type":574,"attrs":679,"content":680},{"textAlign":49},[681],{"text":682,"type":579},"Change is here. And in Weisgall’s words, “we haven’t seen anything yet”.","Benchmark Mineral Intelligence gains exclusive access to Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s thoughts on the future of energy sources, the role of energy storage and how it is too expensive today for individual homes to get off the grid By Simon Moores It is a question that is one of the most commonly asked in the battery […]",[685],{"slug":562,"name":563,"content":686},{"job_title":565,"image":687,"bio":568,"linkedin":569},{"filename":567},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"2976259b-83d0-4b6e-92e1-b6d63ff2e20e\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[691,694],{"slug":692,"name":693},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":695,"name":696},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":699,"name":699,"focus":699,"title":699,"source":699,"filename":700,"copyright":699,"fieldtype":701,"meta_data":702,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/2be000445f/bm-screen-shot-2017-01-24-at-173001.png","asset",{"alt":699,"title":699,"source":699,"copyright":699},"Jan 25, 2017","25th January 2017",[],[],1792688599894]