Elon Musk, founder and director of Tesla, is a man of his word. In March, the Tesla CEO tweeted a pledge to help South Australia solve its energy problems in 100 days with a new energy storage system – or give the whole thing for free. He is now delivering on that promise, after signing an agreement with the state government to build the battery of the world’s most extensive lithium ions. According to his commitment, if he could not finish in 100 days, the energy titan calculated that he would lose 50 million dollars.
This project aims to solve the recent energy problems experienced in the region. Tesla will be carrying out this project along with the French company Neoen, a company which is specialized in renewable energies, and also by the Government of Australia.
According to Musk himself, the battery will have a capacity three times higher than its current analogs.
State Government of South Australia will be funding the initiative, which has an estimated cost of about 550 million Australian dollars – about 418 million dollars.
However, if the project takes longer than planned, it will cost nothing to Australian taxpayers. Musk promised that the system would be up and running in 100 days from the signing of the contract. Otherwise, Tesla would not charge anything for the construction of the battery.
In South Australia, 1.7 million people are suffering from regular energy shortages and blackouts. In September 2016, half of the state was left without electricity after a storm damaged the main transmission lines in the region. Another major outage occurred in February 2017 following an unexpected spike in energy demand due to a heat wave.
Tesla’s friends are obsessed with original batteries and power supply systems. That made it clear to us since he decided to energize an entire island with his technology.
The new batteries that Tesla will be making will have a capacity of 100 megawatts. Still, in reality, the creation of this battery would not correspond to a quirkish quirk, but to an urgent necessity to verify the efficiency of Tesla’s systems of renewable energy.
Since 2016 September, Australian communities that have migrated from the traditional power system to the one that is promoted by Tesla have experienced numerous blackouts, which already has the inhabitants restless and doubts about the effectiveness of this platform.
So the battery intends that it can guarantee the stability of the energy supply irrespective of the performance rate of the wind farms.
Elon Musk has pledged his word that he will operate this system in Australia, so it has become a delicate matter.
Industrial-scale solutions
Although Tesla has long been working on the Powerwall, home batteries designed to store the energy collected by solar panels, Elon Musk’s company does not want to ignore the possibility of participating in industrial-scale solutions that need enterprises that work with windmill farms or solar panels. That is precisely the case of Hornsdale Wind Farm, which is the Australian wind farm that will benefit from this new joint project between Tesla and the French company Neoen.
Elon Musk’s battery will reach 100MW / 129MWh, leaving behind the fact that until some months ago it was the largest battery in the world (it was built in the United States, and its small figures Remained at 30 MW and a capacity to deliver energy at the rate of 120 MWh). To make matters worse, Musk is committed to having the battery ready in 100 days: if they fail, they will deliver it for free.
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By the time this mega-battery is up and running, the idea of the project is to provide an uninterrupted supply of energy for areas that feed on the renewable energy produced by this wind farm. Also, the battery will serve as a backup in emergency situations where – for example, due to a storm – the mills must be stopped for a few hours due to the excessive force of the wind.
What we know is that the company’s planned start date is December 2017, coinciding with the austral summer.
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Saqib Ilyas is an inquisitive blogger and loves to spread his knowledge. Saqib has years of experience in digital marketing & sales. He is currently associated with eworldtrade, the finest online B2B Portal offering reliable business connections globally. Follow him on Twitter & Instagram at @silyasofficial