Seems like they supply each person with 2 Tesla powerwalls for the $55/month and get a reduction in their bills that depends on how much power they choose to share to the grid during power outages.
They've already closed down 2 peaker power plants because of this, so it doesn't seem to just be about handling power outages, but also handling fluctuating power usage instead of firing up extra power plants.
Lithium is not the way to go for home batteries. As size/weight are not an issue for a basement or shed install, oldschool lead-acid are much cheaper and can be easily recycled once at end of life.
Those tesla wall packs will be a massive headache when they give up the ghost. Read the contract carefully. Who is responsable for end-of-life disposal? Where/how are they to be disposed of? Lead acids can be taken to any number of recycling centers, some will even pay you for them.
Not in homes. Density is a huge issue for commercial installations. The off-grid community also values user-repairabilty and avoiding vendor lock-in. Good luck replacing a dead cell in a tesla pack.
The market for this isn't the off-grid community. It's basically every GMP customer.
You aren't wrong about part of the off-grid community not wanting this. I'm not sure I'd want it if I were doing an off-grid install, but it does stand to grow the off-grid community to include people who are looking for a turnkey solution instead of having to do all the research to put together a more user-maintainable system.
Isn't the Tesla pack just a bunch of 18650 (or some similar cell)?
I wouldn't expect the home owner to repair them. However they should be repairable by someone with training in how to diagnose and replace failed cells. (which mostly means a battery welder and some safety systems)
hettygreen · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://electrek.co/2026/07/28/vermonts-largest-energy-source-is-now-a-virtual-power-plant/" rel="nofollow">https://electrek.co/2026/07/28/vermonts-largest-energy-sourc...
Seems like they supply each person with 2 Tesla powerwalls for the $55/month and get a reduction in their bills that depends on how much power they choose to share to the grid during power outages.
They've already closed down 2 peaker power plants because of this, so it doesn't seem to just be about handling power outages, but also handling fluctuating power usage instead of firing up extra power plants.
sandworm101 · · focus · HN ↗
Those tesla wall packs will be a massive headache when they give up the ghost. Read the contract carefully. Who is responsable for end-of-life disposal? Where/how are they to be disposed of? Lead acids can be taken to any number of recycling centers, some will even pay you for them.
pjc50 · · focus · HN ↗
The technology with PbS or even NiFe has existed for decades, but only took off with lithium.
sandworm101 · · focus · HN ↗
mauvehaus · · focus · HN ↗
You aren't wrong about part of the off-grid community not wanting this. I'm not sure I'd want it if I were doing an off-grid install, but it does stand to grow the off-grid community to include people who are looking for a turnkey solution instead of having to do all the research to put together a more user-maintainable system.
bluGill · · focus · HN ↗
I wouldn't expect the home owner to repair them. However they should be repairable by someone with training in how to diagnose and replace failed cells. (which mostly means a battery welder and some safety systems)