Elon Musk praises Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison's Hawaiian island laboratory, which is home to a wellness spa and Tesla solar-powered greenhouses, as 'cool' and 'like a microcosm for the world'

• Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison has the support of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as he builds out his sustainability and wellness laboratory on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, according to a new interview in Forbes.
• Ellison has built a wellness spa and hydroponic greenhouses on the island, which are powered by Tesla solar panels.
• "It's cool; it's like a microcosm for the world," Musk told Forbes.
• The two billionaires have a well-documented friendship. Ellison who is on Tesla's board, has described Musk as a close friend, and Musk told Forbes Ellison is "one of the best engineers I've met."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison have a well-documented friendship, so it's unsurprising that Musk is supportive of Ellison's plans to turn the Hawaiian island of Lanai into a sustainable wellness laboratory.

In a new interview with Forbes, Ellison discussed his interest in sustainability, health, and wellness, which includes his plans for Lanai as well as his work with the US government to help find a treatment for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

On Lanai, Ellison is working on three separate issues through his wellness company, Sensei: global food supply, nutrition, and sustainability. The island has a spa and two 20,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouses, which have sensors and cameras that track data about the farms, including water usage and airflow and are powered by 1,600 Tesla solar panels, according to Forbes.

Now, Ellison is in talks with Hawaiian Electric Co. to purchase the power plant and electric grid on Lanai, with the plan being to transition the island away from fossil fuels toward 100% renewable energy.

"It's cool; it's like a microcosm for the world," Musk told Forbes.

A long-standing friendship

Ellison has been a Tesla board member since 2018. When he was named to Tesla's board of directions, he highlighted his relationship with Musk.

"I think Tesla has a lot of upside," Ellison said at the time. "I am not sure how many people know, but I'm very close friends with Elon Musk, and I'm a big investor in Tesla."

Ellison went to the mat for Musk again that same year, defending him from critics by highlighting the work Musk has done with SpaceX.

"This guy is landing rockets. You know, he's landing rockets on robot drone rafts in the ocean. And you're saying he doesn't know what he's doing," Ellison said at a meeting with financial analysts in 2018. "Well, who else is landing rockets? You ever land a rocket on a robot drone? Who are you?"

The compliments have gone both ways.

"He's really one of the best engineers I've met," Musk said in the Forbes interview. "When we engage on a technical subject, he understands it very quickly, even when it's out of his normal arena, not software."