Australian leaders pledge funds for energy storage after billionaire Tweet bet

A battery installation like the one on San Diego Gas & Electric's grid in Southern California could be in store for Australia. (credit: SDG&E)

Late last week, Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes tweeted at fellow billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk asking for details about Tesla's Powerpacks. The Powerpacks are utility-grade lithium-ion battery installations that Tesla sells in addition to electric cars. Musk responded publicly with a price-$250 per kWh for a 100MWh installation, or $25 million (about $A33 million) before taxes and labor. The CEO added that he could install the system in 100 days or the batteries would be free.

The tweets preceded a flurry of activity from lawmakers at the state and federal level in Australia. On Saturday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reportedly had a phone conversation with Musk and tweeted after the call, "Thanks @elonmusk for a great in depth discussion today about energy storage and its role in delivering affordable & reliable electricity."

Musk responded "You're most welcome. Very exciting to discuss the future of electricity. Renewables + storage arguably biggest disruption since DC to AC." Turnbull replied,

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