Hornsdale wind farm to receive the largest Lithium-ion battery in the world built by Tesla.
Tesla will partner with the French utility Neoen to build the largest lithium Ion-battery in the world that is designed to store renewable energy produced by a wind farm located in South Australia.
Jay Weatherill, the premier of South Australia, confirmed the contract on Friday, adding that the deal is part of government’s $550 million energy plan.
Elon Musk stated that this is the largest battery installation in the world at the moment.
The 129 MWh Lithium-ion battery will be connected with a wind farm in South Australia to deliver a steady flux of clean energy to the grid.
Tesla needs to deliver the battery within 100 days of signing the contract otherwise the battery will be delivered for free.
Romain Desrousseaux, the deputy chief executive of the French utility Neoen stated that the 129 MWh Lithium-ion battery will be the largest in the world and will improve the security of electricity supplies across South Australia.
The large Lithium-ion battery will be built near Jamestown (in the state’s mid-north), and will be paired with the Hornsdale wind farm (owned by Neoen) to provide a steady stream of renewable energy to the grid.
Musk said about the battery that Tesla is confident in its techniques and the design of the system, but there is some risk in that.
Musk thinks that the large battery system beside stabilizing the grid will also bring down the energy prices for consumers.
Musk explained how they plan to bring down the energy prices for consumers saying that energy will be stored in the battery system during excess power (when the cost of production is very low), and will be delivered to the customers when the cost of production is high.
Musk added that the large Lithium-ion battery system will effectively lower the average energy cost to the end customer, and will improve the efficiency of the grid.
The details of the contract have not been revealed, but Musk said that a failure to deliver the project on time, will represent a loss of about $50 million for Tesla.
The battery system represents a key part of the state government’s $550 million energy plan created after last year’s statewide blackout.
Weatherill said that battery storage represents the future for South Australia’s national energy market, and considers that the rest of the world will have to learn from their experience in this field.
The repeated blackouts in South Australia since September, 2016, were put on the use of renewable energy by the federal government, but the most recent blackout (early February 2017), was put on many factors (including higher demand than anticipated) by the Australian Energy Market Operator.