Malcolm Turnbull has spoken to the Tesla founder, Elon Musk, about energy storage issues after the tech billionaire offered to supply battery technology to solve South Australia’s energy reliability problems within 100 days.

The prime minister’s office said the hour-long conversation on Sunday had occurred by mutual arrangement, given Turnbull’s longstanding commitment to exploring technological options to enhance storage.

“The pair had an in depth discussion about the value of storage and the future of the electricity system,” a spokesman for Turnbull said on Sunday, after the Australian prime minister took to Twitter to confirm the chat.

Thanks @elonmusk for a great in depth discussion today about energy storage and it's role in delivering affordable & reliable electricity — Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) March 12, 2017

The tech billionaire characterised the conversation as “very exciting.”

You're most welcome. Very exciting to discuss the future of electricity. Renewables + storage arguably biggest disruption since DC to AC. https://t.co/7uXoUQf29f — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2017

The conversation was more broad-ranging than the South Australian proposal. Last week, Musk threw down a challenge to the South Australian and federal governments, saying he could solve the state’s energy woes within 100 days – or he’d deliver the 100MW battery storage system for free.

Turnbull and Musk discussed network issues and methods of improving battery technology, and resolved to keep in touch over the coming months.

Before talking to Turnbull, Musk spoke with the South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, about a technological fix in the state, which has a high proportion of wind energy.

With high power prices and network reliability issues politically red hot in South Australia, the Weatherill government has been signalling for weeks it will shortly unveil a range of policy measures designed to boost energy security after the recent blackouts.

The policy announcements, which may include the construction of more base load power in the state, as well as options to improve storage, are understood to be very close to completion.

Musk’s offer is said to be complementary to the work already in train.

Federal Labor on Sunday cautioned there was still a way to go before Musk’s “exciting” proposal could become reality.

After a conversation with Weatherill on Saturday, the entrepreneur said: “Very impressed. Govt is clearly committed to a smart, quick solution.”

Labor’s federal energy spokesman, Mark Butler, said the proposal was still in its formative stage but was excited about the prospect. The cost of batteries was falling quickly, surprising even the most optimistic analysts, he said.



Some remote communities in Australia and beyond – in places like American Samoa – have already been able to use them to deal with the intermittency of solar and wind technology.

The biggest question was whether this sort of technology could operate within existing rules and outdated market structure, he said.



“[There’s] a bit of a way to go on this I think but a really exciting exercise of leadership by the South Australian government,” Butler told ABC TV on Sunday. “Further discussions between [Mr Musk] and the South Australian premier should be encouraged.”

The Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has accepted the Musk overture, asking for seven days to sort out politics and funding.

The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young believes battery technology would be the game-changer South Australia needs to solve its energy woes.

“He has thrown down the gauntlet here – I can’t see what there is to lose,” she told ABC TV on Saturday.

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said the idea the transition to green renewable energy is a technological barrier is “nonsense”.

“It’s a political barrier, it’s a failure of planning, it’s a failure of investment in the right parts of the grid,” he told Sky News.

Noting the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is having an energy “crisis meeting” this week, Di Natale said it just showed governments had been asleep at the wheel.

“We are having crisis meetings about a crisis that has been unfolding for decades,” he said.

With Australian Associated Press