Tesla Enters The Australia Battery Market

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA has officially expanded its Powerall battery shipment to Australia. Powerall residential systems will soon be available to Australian residents via dealers including CSR Bradford, Origin Energy, Simply Energy, SunEdison Australia and Natural Solar.

“Tesla Energy has a clear advantage in both price and technology and is some years ahead of its competitors,” Natural Solar Managing Director Chris Williams says. He adds that Natural Solar has witnessed an unprecedented amount of customer interest in Tesla in recent months.

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Not only are Australia’s legendary sunny skies driving a major push toward solar energy and storage, the country is currently facing high energy prices and low feed-in tariffs, which are compounding efforts to expand energy self-consumption.

According to GTM Research analyst Brett Simon, Australia’s energy storage market is expected to expand by a staggering 37-fold between 2015 and 2020 to an annual installation rate of 244 megawatts. Bloomberg New Energy also forecasts 33 gigawatts of battery storage in Australia by 2040 and 37 gigawatts of rooftop solar power.

Tesla investors are hoping that expansion into the Australian market will ultimately help drive the company’s bottom line. Shares are down 32.3 percent in the past six months.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.