Tesla CEO Elon Musk launched a new chapter for his company in a long awaited announcement on building-based energy storage late last week. The company officially released the Powerwall battery product, designed to store solar energy and potentially allow customers to be entirely grid independent. “Our goal is to fundamentally change the way the world uses energy” said the company’s founder, Musk, at a news conference on April 30th. Tesla Powerwall is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery designed to store energy at a residential level for load shifting, backup power and self-consumption of solar power generation. Powerwall consists of Tesla’s lithium-ion battery pack, liquid thermal control system and software that receives dispatch commands from a solar inverter. The unit mounts on a wall and is integrated with the local grid to harness excess power and give customers the flexibility to draw energy from their own reserve. Powerwall is available in 10kWh, optimised for backup applications or […]