AES CEO Weighs In On The Tesla Partnership

Tesla Motors Inc TSLA is not only a car manufacturer anymore, with the Gigafactory it’s also trying to change the way electricity is stored. The company partnered with AES Corp AES to provide home battery products.

Andrés Gluski, AES Corp. CEO, was on CNBC Friday to weigh in on the company’s partnership with Tesla.

The Partnership

“So Tesla is going to make this Gigafactory with Panasonic and so they will drive down the cost of batteries because of economies of scale,” Gluski said. “So, we are a consumer of their batteries. So, we put a […] together called Advancion which you can install on the grid and what’s very important about this.”

“This allows you to have more renewable on the grid because the wind blows and the sun fluctuates according to the clouds, so the voltage varies. So, with this battery kit, it allows you to smooth it out. It also allows you for example to put a peaking plant anywhere.”

Peaking Plant

He continued, “You would need a peaking plant for certain hours of the day, which you don’t want to put a plant in the middle of the city, you could put the batteries, you could put them here. They can store up the energy, when off peak hours, and then inject it when needed. So, what’s happening on the grid is a lot more solar in many places.”

“So, during the day you get a lot of solar, but then the real peak hours may be at night when people come home. Well, with the batteries you can charge them up using the solar power in the middle of the day and then inject that power at night,” Gluski concluded.