South Australia switches on Tesla's 100MW battery; the largest lithium-ion in the world

[midian182]

Tesla boss Elon Musk has lived up to his promise to complete the world’s largest lithium-ion battery within 100 days or hand it over to the South Australian state government for free. The 100MW/129MWh installation has now been turned on and is providing some power to the state’s electricity network. It was due to be switched on tomorrow, but extreme weather conditions expected to hit the state over the next few days brought the launch forward.

Musk had promised to have the battery up and running within 100 days of signing the contracts; if not, he wouldn’t charge anything for the system. The launch arrived just 63 days after pen was put to paper.

Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free. That serious enough for you?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2017

The battery stores energy generated by the neighboring Hornsdale Wind Farm, owned by French company Neoen. It can power 30,000 homes in the event of blackouts, which have plagued the state following a storm last year, but it will mostly be used to supply extra energy during periods of peak demand.

Happy #FridayWindPic
We just couldn't not post this one today! pic.twitter.com/hfGR6B4CiU

— Australian Wind Alliance (@AusWindAll) December 1, 2017

“The completion of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in record time shows that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible,” said Tesla. “We are proud to be part of South Australia’s renewable energy future, and hope this project provides a model for future deployments around the world.

While opponents of the battery have called it a "Hollywood solution,” the state’s premier, Jay Weatherill, said: “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 in renewable energy with battery storage.”

The battery comes as part of Weatherill’s $550 million (US $416 million) plan to reduce the state’s reliance on the national power grid. Precisely how much it cost has not been revealed.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/72125-south-australia-switches-tesla-100mw-battery-largest-lithium.html

 

[Kotters]

My australian friends hate Elon now, saying he grandstanded in order to strong-arm the government into paying for a 100MW battery that will not solve their problems, or even help alleviate them.

Take that as you will, I'm generally in favor of Tesla and a 100MW battery in general seems fairly kickass.

 

[Scodd]

My australian friends hate Elon now, saying he grandstanded in order to strong-arm the government into paying for a 100MW battery that will not solve their problems, or even help alleviate them.

Take that as you will, I'm generally in favor of Tesla and a 100MW battery in general seems fairly kickass.

I think they are probably just jealous of Musk, like so many of the clots on this site. The more he accomplishes the more upset they get. This will not solve all of their problems and nobody said it would, (nothing can do that for the Aussies other than maybe another good movie or rock band) but it will help alleviate some and they had to start somewhere. Instead of just sitting around talking and complaining or turning back to the "tried and true" methods of wasting time and limited resources, they have done something else, something progressive. Was it the best choice? Only time will tell. But they made a choice. If it was a mistake they can recover, if it wasn't they will advance.

 

[Kotters]

"Progressive" is pretty damn presumptuous.

 

[Vulcanproject]

I always think thermal runaway when I seen tonnes and tonnes of lithium batteries together like that. What a show it would be.

 

[Abraka]

It would be interesting to know how cost-effective this is. How much energy will it save before the batteries have to be scrapped. Taking into account the price of batteries, I think this system won't pay itself before it reaches its best-before date.

 

[bobc4012]

My australian friends hate Elon now, saying he grandstanded in order to strong-arm the government into paying for a 100MW battery that will not solve their problems, or even help alleviate them. ...

I think they are probably just jealous of Musk, like so many of the clots on this site. The more he accomplishes the more upset they get. ...

Now they wouldn't be whingen strine now if they weren't, eh!

 

[drwho]

Considering it took six months to sign the contract, Musk was never in danger of missing the deadline of 100 days. It may say 63 days to complete, but I bet you he was working hard during the signing period to get things ready for installation. Well played, totally sucked in the SA government.

 

[Flebbert]

My australian friends hate Elon now, saying he grandstanded in order to strong-arm the government into paying for a 100MW battery that will not solve their problems, or even help alleviate them.

Take that as you will, I'm generally in favor of Tesla and a 100MW battery in general seems fairly kickass.

There is a fair bit of hate of change in Australia as most see these new advancements as taking away jobs from local Australians.... "dey took our jobs"

Australia is still opening new coal mines when it is in decline....... we are not the smartest country and generally lead by fear of change.

The reality is the power in SA was ****, with crazy outages every year that no one was able to solve previously.

I see either two things playing out...... It is just as **** as before and Elon will rush to make it work as PR is their game or it will be great for SA.

 

[Uncle Al]

Let's wait and see how it's track record in 2,5,10 years to find out if it's really a "big deal" or just repackaged snake oil ......

 

[sdms96825]

Considering it took six months to sign the contract, Musk was never in danger of missing the deadline of 100 days. It may say 63 days to complete, but I bet you he was working hard during the signing period to get things ready for installation. Well played, totally sucked in the SA government.

I do not understand. How did he suck in the SA government? They signed a contract for a product and apparently got it.

 

[Scodd]

Well played, totally sucked in the SA government.

They needed something, they looked, they got it done. I think it is more like they sucked themselves further away from a problem, the national grid. This makes them less dependent. How long will it last, and how well this will work we have to see? But it looks good so far. The biggest problems we have advancing and getting things from are all the time wasters and near do wells. They sit around talking about shite and making promises and deadlines they know they can't keep and then just keep coming up with excuses. But they will never dig a hole, string a wire or write the check, figuatively speaking. These folks are getting something done, unlike professional complainers and philistine types who sit around and talk about what everyone else is doing wrong.