• A remarkable twitter exchange between Elon Musk and Australian tech billionaire, Mike Cannon-Brookes, has captured the imagination of Australia's media since late last week.  In the exchange, Mr Musk offered to solve South Australia's electricity 'crisis' by providing a battery storage grid that could store up to 300 megawatt hours of energy, and promised it could be installed within 100 days of the contract being signed, otherwise it would be free.
• In this post, Evidente dissects Mr Musk's offer and suggests that the proposed storage capacity will do little to resolve South Australia's power problems because it accounts for only 10% of the state's peak summer demand per hour.  Further, the quote offered by Mr Musk is uneconomic at this stage because it represents a battery storage 'flat pack', which does not include costs of installation, land usage and grid connection.
• As one of Australia's key electricity generators, AGL Energy should continue to benefit from supply side developments in the National Electricity Market and for this reason, Evidente has maintained a large overweight position in the stock in its Model Portfolio since inception.  The prospect of gas shortages - particularly on Australia's eastern border - is expected to contribute to higher wholesale electricity prices over the medium term, which will benefit AGL. 

This insight is part of Smartkarma. For more follow this link.