Power on the Cutting Edge - Page 2

"My experience in owning Tesla vehicles had been so positive," he said in explanation for why he didn't research alternative vendors, even while waiting nine months on a list before Tesla had a battery ready for him. "What I did know was, I thought a lithium-ion battery was the way to go, as opposed to conventional home batteries."

In the interim, the Briscos were invited to, and attended, the grand opening of a huge, $5-billion battery factory Tesla is building near Reno. The facility is expected to supply batteries to the company's car factory in Fremont, which currently gets them through Panasonic in Japan, as well as building home batteries.

Barry Brisco says there are two main advantages to home-energy storage: "You can design your system to not draw power from the grid during peak hours, [and] you have a back-up power source in times when the grid goes down."

Both Brisco and Feriante admit that the installation was a challenging process, and a first for Dura-Foam.

"We collaborated with engineers from Tesla and [inverter manufacturer] SolarEdge for technical clarifications," says Feriante, who described the combination of the Tesla's 6.4kWH Powerwall with SolarEdge's 7.6kW StorEdge inverter as "an early commercial-stage pilot."

"This style of PV solar and battery-storage system is new to PG&E also," he added of the regional utility company. "Given safety as top priority, these early-stage systems are subject to rigorous review to ensure reliability."

Of course, that's the way it is out on the cutting edge. However, this doesn't diminish either man's confidence that home-energy storage could be the way of the future.

"We live in a unique time, when technology innovation is progressively enabling us to meet our clean-energy goals," says Feriante. "At both the household and the grid level, energy storage paired with PV solar are on the right track."

"I think it adds value to the home if you own the system," says Brisco of his Eichler, differentiating from those who lease solar systems. "I think it's a worthwhile investment."

"It's exciting. This type of sustainable energy is a pretty big topic," Brisco adds. "There are bigger issues at stake than just, ‘Will I save $80 or $100 on my electric bill?'"

• As we were going to press with this story, we learned that LG Chem will soon launch a new battery system of their own similar to the Tesla Powerwall. It is expected to be available by the end of 2016.