Tesla Given Green Light To Generate Electricity In The UK
Tesla has been given the green light to generate electricity in the UK. It’s been granted an electricity generation license and Ofgem, an energy regulator, has published a press release stating:
“The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority (“the Authority”) hereby gives notice pursuant to section 6A(5) of the Electricity Act 1989 (“the Act”) that on 12 June 2020 an electricity generation licence was granted under section 6(1)(a) of the Act to Tesla Motors Limited (company number 04384008) whose registered office is situated at 197 Horton Road, West Drayton, UB7 8JD, United Kingdom, authorising it to generate electricity in the area specified in Schedule 1 for the purpose of giving a supply to any premises or enabling a supply to be so given.”
It appears that Tesla plans to develop virtual power plants in the UK using its real-time trading and control platform, known as Autobidder. With Autobidder, Tesla provides independent power producers, utilities, and its capital partners with the ability to autonomously monetize battery assets.
It provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimization and enables owners and operators to set up their operational game plan in a way that will maximize their revenue. Currently, Autobidder operates at South Australia’s Hornsdale Power Reserve and has been able to create competition to help lower energy prices through market bidding.
Tesmanian explained in an article that, “It seems Tesla’s Autobidder is the refined version of the company’s Grid Controller,” which helped the island nation of Samoa go 100% renewable back in 2018. The Grid Controller’s software was developed by Tesla to give real-time control over grid stability, reliability, and security. The article also noted an obvious fact — that many analysts are more likely to overlook this facet of Tesla which will contribute toward the growth of Tesla Energy.
CleanTechnica’s Paul Fosse and HyperChange’s Galileo Russell dive into the specific potential from Autobidder more in a recent article and video. Here’s an example from Paul:
“Let’s say you have a 75 kWh battery in your Tesla and you are willing to use 50 kWh a day to buy at low electricity rates (you could also use your roof to produce solar, but let’s leave that for another day) at 6 cents a hour ($0.06 times 50 kWh is $3.00) and sell it back to the utility at 15 cents ($0.15 times 50 = $7.50). You would would make $4.50 a day. Let’s say the utility took half your profit for using the wires and you could net $2.25 a day. Multiplied by 300 days (you can’t do it when you are traveling), that would be $675 ($2.25 times 300 days). Well, that won’t pay for the car, but it might make one payment a year and help stabilize the grid.”
It will be interesting to see the success of Tesla’s Autobidder in the UK. not just for Tesla, but for those who will benefit from having lower costs of energy.
CleanTechnica’s Kyle Field recently took a dive into a Tesla patent that’s essentially an extension of the Grid Controller, and enables Autobidding. For more on that topic, jump in: “Tesla Steps Into The Utility Space With New Grid Controller Patent.”
Also check out our 4 stories on Tesla’s virtual power plant pilot in Australia.
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