Tesla says its batteries could fix Australia's energy problems in 100 days.

They are only starting to gain a foothold in the Australian market, but could batteries provide a near overnight solution to the energy woes that have hit South Australia and risk spreading east?

Solar energy stored in Tesla battery could
be a solution to the nation's blackout
 woes, its maker says.

At least one company believes so. In an elaborate launch in a former power substation in suburban Newport, in Melbourne's west, Tesla Inc said its technology could provide a fix within 100 days.

The Californian company's energy products vice-president Lyndon Rive said it could install up to 300 megawatt hours of grid-scale battery storage in that timeframe at a cost of about $66 million per 100 megawatt hours.

"If you had storage deployed during the blackout [in] South Australia you wouldn't have had the blackout," Mr Rive said.

Read Adam Morton’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Tesla says its batteries could fix Australia's energy problems in 100 days.”

Malcolm Turnbull, ideologue-in-chief

Malcolm Turnbull - "Ideologue-in-chief".

"Some people," said Malcolm Turnbull, way back in 2011, "would say that as we have a vested interest in coal being burned, we should oppose action on climate change and ... muddy the waters on climate science in order to prolong the export billions from coal mining." Thus spoke the once principled pragmatist, now repurposed by the Liberal right as the ideologue-in-chief. Thus spoke a man now unable to resist taking pot shots at state-based renewables, or blaming South Australia's recent energy woes on the shift from coal to wind despite clear advice to the contrary.

What we're told by the New Malcolm – who has accused South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill of complacency in the wake of last week's blackout – is that "if anyone had a vested interest in showing that you could do really smart, clean things with coal it would be us". So when it comes to vested interests, our Prime Minister has come full circle. Some people.

Read Sarah Gill’s comment in today’s Melbourne Age - “Malcolm Turnbull, ideologue-in-chief.”