Tesla Is Doing Something Huge For The State Of Hawaii

Tesla has been ranked the most innovative company in the world and it’s obvious why. From electric cars to sustainable energy, the company is impacting the world.

So far, at least one state has really seen a difference.

The state of Hawaii has relied on solar and other renewable energy during the day, but there was no way to store the sun’s power when it went dark.

The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is now drawing energy from 272 Tesla power packs to provide electricity after dark.

Tesla’s power packs are anticipated to help save KIUC 1.6 million gallons of diesel fuel each year by using Tesla’s stored energy in them.

Diesel fuel has been the traditional way the utility has generated power after dark.

“As a state, we know how to generate power,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige told CNBC. “For us, the challenge has been storing that power to use at night. Now we can do that.”

According to Tesla, the power packs will cut KIUC costs per kilowatt hour from 15.5 cents down to 13.9 cents, a fixed price for the next 20 years.

Wall Street analysts haven’t been so sure of Tesla’s future success with their energy storage, but company Chief Technical Officer JB Straubel has said to CNBC, “I think it is a little difficult to see into the future sometimes and see how it is going to grow. There are no immediate comparables that they can look to in the past and show how this growth happened.”

“The size of the utility grid and the electricity consumed around the world is enormous. That is the market that we are tapping into here,” he continued.

“The energy markets are obviously volatile,” he said. “They will continue to be volatile, and these technologies are coming down in price every single year. So we don’t see this changing and the long-term trend is going to be the same.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and have not been compensated for this article.