According to foreign media reports, Elon Musk was officially allowed to sell electricity to retail customers in Texas through Tesla energy risk company (Tesla Energy Ventures).
This summer, Musk submitted an application to operate in Texas. Late last week, the state approved Mr Musk's application to operate. Tesla Energy Venture Capital is now licensed to "provide retail power services in the entire area served by the Texas Electric Reliability Commission (ERCOT)," which basically covers the entire state of Texas, Texas Public Utilities Commission (Public Utility Commission) wrote in an investigation report.
Tesla has not disclosed details of the new company, but Tesla appears to be targeting Tesla's existing customers in Texas. Tesla's current business, which includes solar panels, batteries and cars that can act as batteries, is basically equivalent to a virtual power plant.
It is reported that Tesla has built and operated a similar power plant in southern Australia and launched a virtual power plant in California this summer, but the plant is still in the user testing stage. When Tesla announced the launch of a virtual power plant in California, Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy, noted that Tesla had 50, 000 customers in California with Volt Absorb Powerwall, but only "less than 5 per cent" would use the services provided by Tesla California Power Plant. It also said it "will not have a significant impact on Electroweb operations in California".
However, Musk said that the energy business will be an important part of Tesla's future. "in the long run, Tesla Energy Company will be the same size as Tesla Automobile Company," Musk told investors last year. In the end, the overall size of the energy business will even exceed that of the automotive business. "
Ted Kury, director of the Energy Research Institute of the University of Florida Public Utilities Research Center, said, "Power service providers without power generation facilities basically act as middlemen, buying from the wholesale electricity market and selling them to customers. Tesla has the ability to play the role of both buyer and seller, and get a lot of data, so regulators have to consider the possible impact. "
