When Elon Musk has something to say we ordinary mortals would do well to listen. He has made a tantalising offer to solve the electricity shortage which is threatening to cripple South Australia. One by one those polluting coal fired power stations dotting the eastern coast of Australia are winking out as we struggle to lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
South Australia placed its power bet on solar and wind generation with the need to draw in power from other states when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing. A massive storm destroyed transmission towers and the state had a power disaster. Now there is growing uncertainty as to whether power generation in the eastern states will be sufficient to supplement South Australia in the months ahead.
Elon Musk has proposed that he can build battery storage to accumulate unused power from those solar and wind generators to serve the state during the hours of darkness and to provide the backup when power is unavailable from the eastern states - and he has promised to have that in place within a hundred days of the contract signing - or do it for free !
That is the sort of offer that would be greeted with uncertainty if it were made by most ordinary people - but Elon Musk is a most unusual man. He just happens to be the ninety forth richest man in the world and in 2017 his fortune was estimated to be at $ 13.9 billion. Not only is he rich, he has a very impressive track record of success with whatever business interest he has chosen to undertake.
Musk made his first fortune when he and several others devised a pay system to compliment the growing trade in goods on the Internet - and that is now trading under the name " Pay Pal ". Flush with cash he found interest in battery storage and created Solar City, the biggest battery farm in the entire world. He is credited with being at the forefront of developing the electric car and the name Tesla is now a production model that seems light years ahead of his competitors. At the same time, he became interested in the world of space and put together a very successful range of space rockets under the brand Space-X. This is now a going concern delivering supplies to the International Space Station and may shortly start sending tourists into space flight. Space-X astonished the world of technology when it found a way to recover and return used rockets to their launch pad, lowering costs and bringing in the era of multi mission use.
Mr Musk's offer is to provide a 100 megawatt on grid battery for South Australia for $ 330 million. He is so confident that this can be achieved that he has added the promise that it will be in place and working within a hundred days of the signing of the contract - or it will be entirely free.
The ball is in the court of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill. We have long been arguing and procrastinating over how to reduce carbon dioxide and generate power and $330 million seems a very reasonable price to find a solution to our problem. Elon Musk is putting his name and reputation on the line, and he has a magnificent track record of success in whatever field he engages.
We would be wise to not to take too long to reach a decision. That is an offer many other countries would find appealing.
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