Tesla has installed a 129-MWh battery in South Australia in under 100 days, winning a bet CEO Elon Musk made with the state.
The battery – a civil-scale version of the Tesla Powerpack – will be used to store power from the Hornsdale Wind Farm, keeping excess energy and feeding it back into the grid during times when the wind farm is slow and/or demand is high. Musk congratulated Tesla workers and South Australian legislators for moving the process forward so quickly, which enabled the company to win the bet and put the cost of the installation in the hands of the state.
The project was completed in about two months, an impressive feat with sufficient motivation compared to Tesla’s recent tendency to delay production of its new cars because of delays at the Gigafactory.
The state will pay US $50 million for the installation.
“South Australia is set to have back-up power in place this summer through the world’s largest lithium ion battery, which is set to be energized for the first time in the coming days as it enters a phase of regulatory testing,” said State Premier Jay Weatherill in a statement acquired by ECN.
The battery will be managed by Tesla and French renewable energy company Neoen.
“While others are just talking, we are delivering our energy plan, making South Australia more self-sufficient, and providing back-up power and more affordable energy for South Australians this summer,” Weatherill said in a press release.
Bargaining for a quick installation is a good way to get publicity, but it also echoes the frenetic way in which cities are jockeying to host Amazon’s second headquarters, bringing change to local economy and raising concerns about cost of living.
