Tesla wants to sell electricity directly to Texas customers, according to an application filed this month with the Texas Public Utility Commission.
The application aims to connect a 100 MW energy storage system to the grid following the launch of a large battery built by Tesla in Angleton, Texas (near Houston). Texas Monthly first reported on an application submitted by Tesla’s wholly owned subsidiary called Tesla Energy Ventures.
Tesla has also built several practical energy storage systems around the world, including one east of Los Angeles, another in Monterey, California, and two in Australia (Geelong, Victoria and Adelaide, South Australia). Did.
However, Tesla is not acting as a retail power provider to set up these systems. Instead, large batteries manufactured by Tesla tend to help other companies in producing, storing, and consuming energy.
In February of this year, a cold wave struck Texas, leaving millions of residents stuck for days without electricity or water.
Some officials initially blamed the intermittent nature of renewable energy, even though the state operates primarily on fossil fuels.
Later, requirements for state legislators and regulators, including the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Railroad Commission, which are to regulate the oil and gas industry, to correct and prevent further vulnerabilities in the
grid. It became clear that the was ignored or mitigated. After a previous power outage, experts sought efforts such as weathering equipment and turbines used to generate electricity with the right insulation and heaters.
Because the Texas grid is isolated from the rest of the United States, power transmission from other states was not available to help those suffering from the cold. Instead, the Texas Grid is managed by the Texas Electric Reliability Council (ERCOT). This is a non-profit organization that basically schedules the flow of electricity to more than 25 million households in Texas.
During the power outage crisis in Texas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stabbed ERCOT on Twitter. write in The group said, “I didn’t get that R.”
The name of the mask was not listed directly in the Tesla Energy Ventures application. The subsidiary is in control of Ana Stewart, Tesla’s director of regulated margin trading, in the role of president.
As CNBC previously reported, Musk’s electric vehicle and solar panel companies have been able to increase their margins on green credit sales over the years. For example, in the second quarter of 2020, regulatory credit sales exceeded the company’s free cash flow, more than four times Tesla’s quarterly net profit of $ 104 million.
Companies that need them (usually automakers, oil and gas providers, retail energy providers, etc.) purchase environmental regulatory credits to comply with regulations that limit the amount of greenhouse gases they can emit each year.
According to her resume, which was part of the application, Stewart has helped Tesla earn more than $ 3.8 billion from regulatory credits since 2017.
Tesla Energy Ventures, if approved as a Texas retail utility, will use employees in Tesla’s energy sector (same as selling solar rooftops) to promote sales in the state And provide customer service. Tesla’s application also mentions working with Engie Energy Marketing for scheduling.