“A show stealer:” Tesla doubles storage deliveries as batteries take centre stage in grid transition

Tesla has smashed its records for battery storage deliveries in the second quarter, reporting a number of 9.4 gigawatt hours for the second quarter – more than double its previous best and double analyst estimates.

The surprise result was revealed in a three line release from Tesla that also showed better than expected EV sales for the quarter of 444,000, although this was better than market expectations. It helped underpin a 16 per cent jump in Tesla’s share price, adding more than $US15 billion to the net worth of CEO Elon Musk in just two days.

Tesla analyst Adam Jonas, from Morgan Stanley, described the energy storage deployments as a “show stealer”, and said it underpinned his view that the storage division will be near as valuable as the company’s EV business.

Jonas, as we reported last week, recently valued the Tesla energy business – which produces the Powerwall battery for homes and businesses, and the Megapack product for grid-scale installations – at $US130 billion ($A200 billion). That makes it worth more than any listed Australian company with the exception of BHP.

Tesla did not break down its deployment numbers for storage, but it is currently working on some significant projects in Australia, including the Neoen big battery at Collie in Western Australia, which is the biggest in the country at 2260 MWh, and the 1600 MWh Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub.