Tesla Announces New Big Ass Battery

Tesla Announces New Big Ass Battery

In 2017 Tesla built the biggest lithium-ion battery in the world in South Australia.

The project was conducted off the back of the major 2016 storm that blacked out of the majority of the state in an effort to provide reliable energy generation. It is also said to have saved almost $40 million in the first year alone.

The company is now taking large scale storage to the next level with the introduction of a new massive battery – the Megapack.

[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/07/all-the-details-on-teslas-giant-australian-batteryt/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/tesla_powerpack_2-410×231.jpg” title=”All The Details On Tesla’s Giant Australian Battery” excerpt=”Tesla is building the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in South Australia — an installation 60 per cent larger than any other large-scale battery energy storage system on the planet. In partnership with the SA government and French renewables company Neoen, alongside the third stage of the Hornsdale Wind Farm, the PowerPack battery farm will top 100 megawatts of capacity and provide 129 megawatt-hours of energy generation to the region — load balancing the state’s renewable energy generation and allowing emergency back-up power if a shortfall in energy production is predicted.”]

The Megapack is the latest iteration in a line of energy storage solutions that began with the Powerwall, which was designed to store clean energy at home.

Tesla then released the industrial version of the Powerwall, the Powerpack – a scalable battery solution that was used for the South Australia project.

And the Megapack is even bigger again.

According to a recent blog post from Tesla, the Megapack has been developed as a sustainable alternative to natural gas power plants for large scale projects.

Tesla uses the Moss Landing project in the U.S. as example where the local grid doesn’t have enough power to meet demand. Where traditional plants cost millions per day to run and offer dirty energy, a Megapack can utilise excess solar or wind energy instead during these peak times.

Each Megapack can store up to 3 MWhs energy and can be stacked together to bump that up to 1 GWh.

The Megapacks arrive fully assembled according to the Tesla website come with “battery modules, bi-directional inverters, a thermal management system, an AC main breaker and controls.”

The site also claims that the Megapack takes up 40 per cent less space, 10x fewer parts and can be installed 10x faster than current alternatives on the market.

It will be interesting to see if this increased push into the industrial sector will impact the delayed rollout of the company’s Solar Roof – an alternative to traditional solar panels that are a little more reminiscent of tiles. Tesla’s Solar Roof has been in development since 2016.

There is no word on how much a Megapack actually costs, but we’re assuming it’s not cheap. Here in Australia a single Powerwall comes in at $7,600, which includes the unit itself and supporting hardware.

But considering the rise of renewable energy in some countries, having a large-scale storage option out in market is probably a smart play.


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