Tesla Powerwall customers in Texas can now feed their electricity back to the grid • businessroundups.org

Elon Musk’s plan tooperate as a giant distributed utilitycreeps into reality.

First, Tesla tested a “virtual power plant” in California, where Powerwall home battery owners were invited to sell electricity back to the grid at peak times. mitigation of brownouts. Soon after, the automaker extensive the effort in Australia and Japan, and then it comes to Texas – with a twist.

The company announced this on Thursday Tesla Electrican electric subscription offered exclusively in parts of Texas where retail choice available, such as Houston and Dallas. The product turns Tesla into one private electricity supplier in the Lone Star state, and allows Powerwall owners to sell some excess electricity back to the grid, with Tesla acting as an intermediary.

Tesla said owners of its large batteries with homes in those metropolitan areas will see “a banner pop up on your Powerwall home page in the Tesla app.”

While Tesla Electric is building on the company’s vision to grow well beyond car manufacturing, other automakers are also toying with the idea, including GM, which is partnering with solar energy vendor Solar power; and Toyotawho said today that it is partnering with a Texas utility company.