Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon Brookes is "surprised" by the response to his involvement in the debate over South Australia's energy needs and gave kudos to Tesla boss Elon Musk for "taking that step" towards a renewable solution.

He gave the Tesla battery-powered solution for the state's energy problems a "good chance" of eventuating in an interview with the ABC on Tuesday morning.

The comments come as South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill unveiled a $550 million energy plan for the state, which includes Australia's largest battery storage plant with a 100MW output from the private sector as well as a gas power plant.

Mr Cannon-Brookes entered the energy debate last week when he reached out to Mr Musk via Twitter about Tesla providing a solution to the rolling blackouts South Australia has experienced.

Mr Musk quickly rose to the challenge, offering a solution at about half the previously-quoted cost, and with a money-back guarantee, changing the shape of debate around the role of renewables in the plan for the state.

"I've learned a lot of the dark arts of power, both political and electric, over the past few days. [It's been like] drinking from the fire hose," said Mr Cannon-Brookes.

"It's surprising to see the number of people that have reached out.

"I've spent more time speaking to politicians in the last week than in the last year. They're interested in solving it.

"I'm just trying to change the conversation.

"Elon almost halved the price of what's available at a grid-scale storage capacity, which was a very bold offer and blew up a lot of models as to what was possible.

"First, we need to change the degree of urgency. We have six or seven months to get something solved.

"The Australian reaction has been amazing. People have been saying: 'Let's do it, let's prove to the world that we can be amazing'. "