- As an energy provider, Tesla has now entered the Texas market.
- A new subsidiary, Tesla Energy Ventures, would be used to carry out those activities.
- Tesla Energy Ventures is seeking approval to become a retail electric provider (REP), The application was initially filed on August 17, 2021.
Tesla Energy Ventures, a new subsidiary of Tesla, filed with the PUC of Texas in mid-August to sell electricity on the retail market. He is an eccentric serial entrepreneur and rocket scientist who reinvented rocketry and reinvented electric cars.
Following the massive winter storms that disrupted power across the area earlier this year, Elon Musk is selling electricity and renewable energy in Texas through Tesla. A Tesla group company, Tesla Energy Ventures, has been granted authorization to operate as a Retail Electric Provider (REP) in Texas by the Public Utility Commission.
A REP is a company that purchases electricity from generators in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ wholesale market and sells it to consumers in competitive markets. The state is home to several large energy companies, including TXU Energy and Reliant Energy. There are places, such as Austin and San Antonio, where the power provider is a local municipality.
The company filed paperwork over the summer in order to launch its operations in Texas. Musk’s venture was granted approval by the state last week. The Public Utility Commission of Texas stated in its determination that Tesla Energy Ventures is now licensed to “provide retail electric service throughout the ERCOT service area,” which basically covers all of Texas.
Texas’ electric industry has already been invaded by Tesla. Tesla’s Gambit Energy Storage subsidiary announced after the blackout in February that it would build 100-megawatt batteries in Houston designed to supplement the Southeast Texas grid during another blackout. Solar panels and batteries are also sold by the company in the renewables sector.
With https://t.co/45B5nUBaxb & Powerwall battery you are your own utility.
24/7 clean, sustainable electricity. https://t.co/tqAxQMSuBD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2021
With its filing, Tesla stated that it could leverage its network of solar panel customers in the state to create a user base for a mobile app and a website that would allow it to market to its customers. Data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shows that Texas has installed more than 1 gigawatt of personal solar panels.
In addition, Tesla is partnering with Brookfield Asset Management and real estate developer Dacra on a solar-powered community in Austin that will include homes that can send back power to the grid. With its Autobidder trading and control platform, the company operates a virtual power plant that provides 250 MW of power to 50,000 homes in southwest Australia.
