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Tesla Solar + Powerwall more than covers monthly payment after a week of VPP events
Tesla owner Mark Gillund of Sacramento, California, will not be paying out of pocket for his solar and battery system’s monthly payment this month. This was because his home is part of Tesla’s California Virtual Power Plant (VPP), which has been providing backup power to the grid as the state continues to deal with challenges brought about by the recent heatwave.
Mark Gillund placed his order for a Tesla Solar + Powerwall system in June last year. By the second week of August 2021, his solar panels and batteries were installed, though the homeowner had to wait until early September 2021 before the system was actually turned on. The setup was quite impressive, with its 12.24 kWh solar array, three Tesla Powerwall batteries, and two inverters. This, Gillund believed, would be a good way to reduce his home’s typical power bill, which hits about $650 per month during summer.
The benefits of the solar panels and Powerwall batteries were immediately evident, with the Tesla owner noting that his home’s power charges dropped to just the $10 minimum every month. Thus, when Tesla launched its California Virtual Power Plant, the Powerwall owner promptly opted in. With the rollout of the program’s $2 per kWh incentive, joining the California VPP made even more sense.
With California dealing with a serious heatwave, the state’s grid has seen its own fair share of challenges as of late. Tesla’s California Virtual Power Plant promptly went to work, providing the grid with backup renewable energy as needed. Lastbulb’s VPP tracker suggests that there are now over 4,600 homes that are participating in the California Virtual Power Plant, and so far, the system has provided about 577 MWh of energy to the state’s grid.
Gillund’s Tesla Solar + Powerwall system participated in the recent VPP events, sending 35 kWh back to the grid during the September 9 event alone. Overall, the homeowner’s solar and battery system had sent a total of 255 kWh during the ongoing heat wave. This meant that the system had been able to earn $510 in compensation with just a week’s worth of VPP events. This was more than enough to cover the monthly payment of Gillund’s entire solar and battery system.
As mentioned by Gillund to Teslarati, the monthly fee for his Powerwall and solar loan is $400. This meant that as long as his home sends over 200 kWh of power to the grid, the system could effectively pay for itself. In a way, this is pretty much the cherry on top for the homeowner, as his Powerwall and solar system had actually been cash positive so far.
Gillund was fortunate enough to receive a $14,000 tax credit for his solar and batteries, so he’s still paying for the system’s monthly fees with that amount. The earnings of the system through his home’s participation in the California Virtual Power Plant could then be considered an extremely welcome extra. It could also be proof that Tesla CEO Elon Musk was really onto something when he noted that renewable energy solutions could effectively become a money printer of sorts.
Check out Gillund’s insights on the CA VPP in the video below.
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Starlink goes mainstream with first-ever SpaceX Super Bowl advertisement
SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.
SpaceX aired its first-ever Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, marking a rare move into mass-market advertising as it seeks to broaden adoption of its Starlink satellite internet service.
Starlink Super Bowl advertisement
SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.
The advertisement highlighted Starlink’s global coverage and emphasized simplified customer onboarding, stating that users can sign up for service in minutes through the company’s website or by phone in the United States.
The campaign comes as SpaceX accelerates Starlink’s commercial expansion. The satellite internet service grew its global user base in 2025 to over 9 million subscribers and entered several dozen additional markets, as per company statements.
Starlink growth and momentum
Starlink has seen notable success in numerous regions across the globe. Brazil, in particular, has become one of Starlink’s largest growth regions, recently surpassing one million users, as per Ookla data. The company has also expanded beyond residential broadband into aviation connectivity and its emerging direct-to-cellular service.
Starlink has recently offered aggressive promotions in select regions, including discounted or free hardware, waived installation fees, and reduced monthly pricing. Some regions even include free Starlink Mini for select subscribers. In parallel, SpaceX has introduced AI-driven tools to streamline customer sign-ups and service selection.
The Super Bowl appearance hints at a notable shift for Starlink, which previously relied largely on organic growth and enterprise contracts. The ad suggests SpaceX is positioning Starlink as a mainstream alternative to traditional broadband providers.
Tesla engineers deflected calls from Apple on a daily basis while the tech giant was developing its now-defunct electric vehicle program, which was known as “Project Titan.”
Back in 2022 and 2023, Apple was developing an EV in a top-secret internal fashion, hoping to launch it by 2028 with a fully autonomous driving suite.
However, Apple bailed on the project in early 2024, as Project Titan abandoned the project in an email to over 2,000 employees. The company had backtracked its expectations for the vehicle on several occasions, initially hoping to launch it with no human driving controls and only with an autonomous driving suite.
Apple canceling its EV has drawn a wide array of reactions across tech
It then planned for a 2028 launch with “limited autonomous driving.” But it seemed to be a bit of a concession at that point; Apple was not prepared to take on industry giants like Tesla.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives noted in a communication to investors that, “The writing was on the wall for Apple with a much different EV landscape forming that would have made this an uphill battle. Most of these Project Titan engineers are now all focused on AI at Apple, which is the right move.”
Apple did all it could to develop a competitive EV that would attract car buyers, including attempting to poach top talent from Tesla.
In a new podcast interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it was revealed that Apple had been calling Tesla engineers nonstop during its development of the now-defunct project. Musk said the engineers “just unplugged their phones.”
Musk said in full:
“They were carpet bombing Tesla with recruiting calls. Engineers just unplugged their phones. Their opening offer without any interview would be double the compensation at Tesla.”
Interestingly, Apple had acquired some ex-Tesla employees for its project, like Senior Director of Engineering Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who eventually left for Archer Aviation.
Tesla took no legal action against Apple for attempting to poach its employees, as it has with other companies. It came after EV rival Rivian in mid-2020, after stating an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees was noticed.
There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.
However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.
To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:
“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”
Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”
It’s not impossible
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2026
Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.
Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.
Starlink goes mainstream with first-ever SpaceX Super Bowl advertisement
Tesla engineers deflected calls from this tech giant’s now-defunct EV project
