Elon Musk is charging ahead in the world of tech and has now created the largest battery ever in less than 100 days.
And no, it’s not for the next model in the ever-expanding iPhone series, Musk has delivered on his promise to help South Australia with its crippling energy problem.
The billionaire Tesla founder threw down the challenge to the Australian government in March after Tesla executive Lyndon Rive said the company could install the 100-300 megawatt hours of battery storage required to prevent the power shortages that have been causing blackouts in the state within a self-imposed 100-day deadline.
The business mogul was so serious about his promise that he gave the guarantee, saying if it wasn’t done in that time, it would be free.
It is designed to backup around 30,000 homes, exactly the number that were affected by a long blackout in September 2016
The Tesla Powerpacks have been installed and connected at Neoen’s Hornsdale windfarm, north of Adelaide, and tests will be run to ensure regulatory requirements are met.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said in a statement:
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.
The world’s largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix, and it sends the clearest message that South Australia will be a leader renewable energy with battery storage.
An enormous amount of work has gone in to delivering this project in such a short time, and I look forward to visiting Jamestown next week to personally thank those who have worked on this project.
Elon Musk‘s battery farm stores masses of energy from renewable sources like wind and solar and sends it out to the grid when usage is high.
The battery has put Jamestown and South Australia on the map as a world leader in renewable energy with battery storage.
Batteries are set to start operating on December 1 and are estimated to have cost at least $50 million.
It’s a good job he met his deadline!
