From zero to 100 MW in 60
days – Tesla’s impressive speed is not merely reserved for the electric vehicle
(EV) sector. The U.S. firm, headed by doyen of the tech and entrepreneurial
world Elon Musk, has today turned on the world’s largest battery in South
Australia– some 40 days ahead of schedule.
The 100 MW (129 MWh)
Hornsdale Power Reserve neighbors the Hornsdale Wind Farm – owned and operated
by
French renewable developer Neoen
– and has been developed to deliver
stability and greater reliability to South Australia’s state electricity grid.
The size of the battery reserves is enough to power 30,000 households local
households.
Having been bedevilled by a
period of electricity supply instability at the beginning of the year, South
Australia’s governors were wrestling with the challenge of keeping the lights
on, particularly during the hottest days of the year when air conditioning
units across the state are switched on en masse.
Following a state-wide
blackout in late 2016, Mike Cannon-Brookes, the founder of Atlassian (an
Australian software company) pledged to offer and arrange financial and
political support to back a battery capable of stabilizing the grid, calling on
Tesla to see what they could do.
Musk duly took to Twitter in March
to promise
: "Tesla
will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature, or
it is free. That serious enough for you?”
The Hornsdale lithium-ion
battery was duly installed ahead of schedule (the connection agreement was
signed with Electranet on September 29) in Jamestown on Friday, December 1,
after much hustle by local developers and backing from state politicians. South
Australia premier Jay Weatherill – who turned the battery on – remarked: "I
want to express my gratitude to the workers who have constructed this battery.
They have every right to be proud of what they have constructed.
"While others are just
talking,” he added in a barely veiled dig at the
federal government’s stuttering
renewable energy plans
, "we are delivering our energy plan, making South Australia more
self-sufficient, and providing backup power and more affordable energy for
South Australians this summer.”
Clean Energy Council chief
executive Kane Thornton was full of praise for the South Australian
government’s leadership in delivering such a project in record pace.
"Our energy system is
changing fast, and the energy storage installed next to the Hornsdale 3 wind
farm shows just how fast modern solutions can be delivered to meet the
challenges confronting our ageing power grid,” Thornton said.
"Just as amazing is the
power of social media to get things moving, given it is now less than a year
since a deal was half-brokered between two tech billionaires on Twitter. I
would like to congratulate the South Australian Government, along with our
members Tesla and Neoen for an important project which will help to secure the
state’s power supply in time for a hot summer.”
In March, Musk said that
the battery array would be built at a cost of US$250/kWh, although the final
investment cost has not been publicized. The installation was built using
Tesla’s Powerpack batteries, which are comprised of Samsung 21700 cells. Collectively,
the battery can deliver 129 MWh of storage capacity.
The facility is jointly
owned by Tesla and Neoen, with South Australia’s government permitted to call
on the reserve power stored in the batteries under certain conditions, such as
during a blackout and – more likely – to smooth out electricity supply during
periods of peak demand.
(pv-magazine.com)