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Last week, Elon Musk announced Tesla’s first involvement in a major housing project in Austin, Texas. The project aims to build the first Tesla solar district to create a sustainable residential community.
The Tesla Solar neighborhood was provisionally named SunHouse at Easton Park. Tesla Energy has teamed up with developers Brookfield Asset Management Inc. and Darca on the project. Easton Park is a 2,400 acre community southwest of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, according to the Austin Business Journal.
Tammy Schneider, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Brookfield, estimates that Easton Park will be fully built with approximately 10,000 homes in 8 to 10 years. SunHouse in Easton Park will be a small portion of the community with homes equipped with Tesla Solar and Powerwall, the company’s home battery storage system.
SunHouse is expected to consist of a few thousand homes, and according to Brad Chelton, president of Brookfield Residential Texas, the Tesla solar and powerwalls would even be available for entry-level homes. The solar and house battery units are also integrated into the sales price of the houses, similar to modern devices. Starting prices for homes in Easton Park are in the low $ 300,000 range.
In April, Tesla integrated its solar products and the Powerwall battery and decided to sell the two together as a bundle. Customers could choose between Tesla solar panels or a solar roof, but all solar products would be installed with a powerwall. Tesla Energy has also increased the price of its solar roof product.
Elon Musk announced Tesla’s solar neighborhood days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued guidelines that included tightening incentives to promote and sustain electricity sources such as natural gas, coal and nuclear power.
Today I am directing the @PUCTX to take immediate action to improve electrical reliability across the state.
These guidelines build on the reforms passed at that session to increase power generation capacity and ensure the reliability of the Texas power grid.
Directives below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/b6Tnq5ruMK
– Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) July 6, 2021
In a letter, Governor Abbott instructed the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to take immediate action to ensure the reliability of the state’s electrical grid. The guidelines also provided for “distributing reliability costs to generation resources that cannot guarantee their own availability, such as wind and solar energy”. In short, the letter suggested that generators bear the cost of failure if they fail to meet Texans’ electricity needs.
Governor Abbott’s guidelines were released to improve the stability of the Texas grid after it failed in the February winter storm. After the Texas power crisis, many supported the idea of switching to a renewable power grid. Others think switching to a renewable power grid would be expensive.
SunHouse in Easton Park could be a great way for Texas to see if renewable solutions are a good way to go. Tesla Energy firmly believes that battery storage systems combined with renewable energy sources such as wind and sun could provide enough power to the public. In fact, Tesla recently took a stand against coal and gas generators in Australia.
Read Governor Abbott’s full letter of instruction below.
TX Gov Abbott directive letter to PUC and ERCOT from Maria Merano on Scribd
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