US electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla plans to begin selling electricity to homes in the UK. Tesla Electric will supply to households that own Tesla products including EVs and batteries.
The company, which already runs an energy supply business in the US, also plans to run “virtual power plants”.
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The news comes in form of a job listing for a head of operations, posted by the company on professional networking platform LinkedIn.
According to the job posting, “Tesla Electric is Tesla’s retail electricity offering, currently available to Tesla product owners in selected markets globally, such as Texas [in the United States]”. Tesla first launched household supply deals in Texas last year.
Tesla Electric may help customers who own Tesla Powerwall batteries, solar panels or EVs to store electricity when it is cheap and sell electricity back to the grid when market prices are higher. This can act as a form of storing variable renewable energy for more efficient renewable electricity use.
Renewable energy storage is a growing concern in the UK amid an increased renewables roll-out, limited grid capacity and curtailment costs.
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By GlobalDataTesla first applied to the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem to be an electricity generator three years ago. Its licence was granted in June 2020. If it is granted a licence to become a generator, Tesla can accumulate customers across the country developing a “virtual power plant”.
Tesla has previously developed large-scale battery storage projects. The company has secured a series of renewable energy storage projects in Australia.
Tesla aims to eliminate fossil fuels from the global economy through the use of electrification technologies and energy storage. In March of this year the company published a Master Plan for reaching “a sustainable energy economy”.
According to the job advertisement, Tesla electric will ensure that “small scale residential flexibility can be fully utilised to support the transition of the entire electricity grid to 100% renewables”.
Several suppliers in the UK electricity market have recently collapsed amid the ongoing energy crisis in the UK. Around 30 companies closed operations when energy prices increased in summer 2021.
Industry commentators have pointed out that in the UK, energy companies must offer the Universal Service Obligation under which providers must offer everyone a tariff. Tesla cannot limit its offer to a limited number of customers who have a Powerwall.
Tesla has not yet responded to request for comment.
