Tesla Powerwall Users to Sell Excess Power in Texas Grid Pilot Project

The logo of car manufacturer Tesla is seen at a branch office in Bern, Switzerland October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
The logo of car manufacturer Tesla is seen at a branch office in Bern, Switzerland October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
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Tesla Powerwall Users to Sell Excess Power in Texas Grid Pilot Project

The logo of car manufacturer Tesla is seen at a branch office in Bern, Switzerland October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
The logo of car manufacturer Tesla is seen at a branch office in Bern, Switzerland October 28, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

Tesla Electric customers in Houston and Dallas with Powerwall storage systems in their homes, in a first, have agreed to sell their surplus power back to the Texas electric grid, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) said on Wednesday.
This additional source of dispatchable power for the grid comes as a part of a pilot project which aggregates several small energy devices, like battery storage systems and controllable electric vehicle (EV) chargers, into a single resource that can collectively reduce demand or feed power to the grid, Reuters said.
The Texas power grid operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has broken power use records 10 times so far this summer, and urged consumers on Sunday to reduce electricity use due to extreme temperatures and high demand.
"It's a win-win for Texas. Home and business owners get paid for power they supply and consumers in ERCOT get more reliability," said PUCT commissioner Will McAdams in a release.
The project, which the PUCT directed ERCOT to begin developing in June 2022, currently has eight such Aggregate Distributed Energy Resources (ADER) amounting to 7.2 megawatts, the PUCT said, with Tesla Electric representing the first two, while six others are in the commissioning process.
The Tesla ADERs participating in the ERCOT wholesale market include Houston-area CenterPoint Energy customers and Dallas-area customers of Oncor Electric Delivery Company.
PUCT said there are 2.3 gigawatts of small energy resources, like backup generators or solar panels connected to batteries, across Texas, recording additions of 300 megawatts so far this year.
"As generation and distribution technology continues to improve, we expect to see more Texans taking advantage of these small energy resources in the future," said ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas.



Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
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Impostor Uses AI to Impersonate Rubio and Contact Foreign and US Officials

Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department, June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

The State Department is warning US diplomats of attempts to impersonate Secretary of State Marco Rubio and possibly other officials using technology driven by artificial intelligence, according to two senior officials and a cable sent last week to all embassies and consulates.

The warning came after the department discovered that an impostor posing as Rubio had attempted to reach out to at least three foreign ministers, a US senator and a governor, according to the July 3 cable, which was first reported by The Washington Post.

The recipients of the scam messages, which were sent by text, Signal and voice mail, were not identified in the cable, a copy of which was shared with The Associated Press.

“The State Department is aware of this incident and is currently investigating the matter,” it said. “The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents.”

It declined to comment further due to “security reasons” and the ongoing investigation.

One of the officials said the hoaxes had been unsuccessful and “not very sophisticated.” Nonetheless, the second official said the department deemed it “prudent” to advise all employees and foreign governments, particularly as efforts by foreign actors to compromise information security increase.

The officials were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is no direct cyber threat to the department from this campaign, but information shared with a third party could be exposed if targeted individuals are compromised,” the cable said.

The FBI warned in a public service announcement this past spring of a “malicious text and voice messaging campaign” in which unidentified “malicious actors” have been impersonating senior US government officials.

The scheme, according to the FBI, has relied on text messages and AI-generated voice messages that purport to come from a senior US official and that aim to dupe other government officials as well as the victim’s associates and contacts.

It is the second high-level Trump administration official to face such AI-driven impersonation.

The government was investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures received messages from someone impersonating President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Text messages and phone calls went out from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone, The Wall Street Journal reported in May.

Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles, which may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the newspaper. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles’ number, the report said.