Recent visit of Narendra Modi’s visit to Tesla Motors plant in San Jose, caught his attention to renewable energy technology, where the company’s CEO Elon musk introduced him to Powerwall battery technology.
<Civil service aspirants cannot afford to miss such news, as it would have caught the attention of UPSC, I hope you remember the Prelims question on NFC technology>
What is Powerwall Technology ?
- It is a wall-mountable, high-capacity lithium ion battery that can be charged using power generated through solar panels.
- Dimension – 4 feet tall , 3 feet wide and 7 inches deep.
- It stores energy for commercial or domestic use.
- It comes in two variants – 7 kwh & 10 kwh.
What is a Power Pack ?
- It is a scaled- up version of the powerwall, and can provide up to 100 kwh.
- They can be scaled to megawatt- and gigawatt-sized power solutions.
How are these batteries special ?
Currently, Powerwall technology would eliminate the need for cables & massive infrastructure, present in a conventional grid system.
CEO remarked -“The Powerwall would do to the conventional grid system, what mobile phones did to fixed line phones, eliminating the need for cables and massive infrastructure“.
What Tesla has done to Lithium-ion technology ?
- It has improved the lithium-ion technology.
- It has also integrated massive power capacities – up to 6 times the capacity of a common lead acid battery in a single powerwall in a small space.
- They are built to work for a period of 10 years, while most lead acid batteries die in 3 to 4 years.
Is there any relevance for India ?
Can they solve the problem of power-hungry rural homes!!
- Govt. has envisaged supply of 58W to each household, with 2 light point of 9W and a socket of 40W for gadgets, under its rural electrification programme.
- In this scenario, Powerwall would be good for multiple households.
- Localised micro-grids could generate electricity from solar energy for villages not connected to the main grid.
Published with inputs from Pushpendra
