@RM8 ESS possibly even bigger than an elephant...Here in NZ the...

@RM8 ESS possibly even bigger than an elephant...

Here in NZ the last government planned a Pumped storage system in the far far South well away from the main consumers in the far North but...

Estimated cost was around 16 Billion NZ. As far a I can see a Powerwall 3 is about 25k here so that 16 billion would buy about 640,000 batteries.

With about 2 million individual dwellings they could give a 30% subsidy on batteries for all !

There is the added advantage that you don't have to expand the transmission grid as you can use the slack transmission periods to top up the batteries. Much the same as years ago Heathrow airport had morning and afternoon peaks - now the flow rate is the same all day - actually with a reduction in runways.

Also don't forget that by the time the decisions to build etc had been taken it would have been double the price - so almost a battery for each dwelling.

They have abandoned the idea - the next cunning plan is waited with excitement.