The third version of Tesla’s Master Plan series has been published, defining the company’s goal for moving the world and the United States towards a sustainable future fueled by renewable electricity generation sources.
The paper discusses a variety of subjects, such as power production, energy storage, transportation, investments, mineral use, heat pumps, electrification of industrial heating, recycling, and the electrification of boats and aircraft.
According to the study, 30 TW of capacity, primarily made up of wind and solar energy, and 240 TWh of energy storage are required. Several data sources are cited in the Master Plan’s bibliography, including those from the International Energy Association, Fraunhofer, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Princeton University’s Net Zero America project.
The plan calls for the global deployment of 2.5 TW of electrolyzers, 18.3 TW of solar electricity, and 12.1 GW of wind power. The energy from the generation sources will be used to power 642 TWh of hydrogen storage, as well as 112 TWh of car batteries, 40 TWh of aeroplane and ship batteries, 46.2 TWh of stationary “e-chem” batteries, and 41.4 TWh of thermal batteries.
The paper suggests 3 TW of solar output for the US, including 15 million residential rooftops, 43 GW of commercial rooftop solar, 1.9 TW of onshore wind, and 64 GW of offshore wind. It also suggests industrial storage combined with 1.9 TW of onshore wind and 64 GW of rooftop solar. No new nuclear power plant was under consideration.
In addition to production resources, the Master Plan predicts that the United States will require 107 TWh of hydrogen storage facilities and 6.5 TWh of 8-hour lithium-ion batteries, 6.9 TWh of industrial thermal storage, and 418 GW of electrolyzers. The proposal also takes into account the replacement of more than 200 GW of existing backup generator capacity with an additional 1.2 TWh of dispersed stationary batteries.
Tesla divides the necessary 30 GW of capacity into six categories: heat pumps, high-temperature heat, hydrogen, repowering the current grid, EV charging, and power for planes and boats. With 11 TW of capacity needed, repowering the system requires the largest share, while heat pumps and electric vehicles each need 5 TW.
The study suggests producing and storing hydrogen during the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, when power demand is low and solar and wind generation curtailments are more frequent. The greater consumption seasons during the summer and winter would be well suited for this strategy.
The Master Plan estimates that 610 GW of solar panels must be created annually, at an estimated cost of $347.3 million per gigawatt of produced solar panels, after an initial $212 billion investment to build the plants. According to the study, the entire investment over the next twenty years will be $424 billion, with a base cost of roughly $0.024 per watt.
After a $9 billion plant investment, the business calculated that solar recycling would cost $14 million year. The connectivity of the main electricity grid areas of the United States is necessary for the document’s execution.
