Earlier this year, South Australia went into meltdown, or perhaps more correctly blackout – their power grid was crippled under what some called and energy crisis and others observed as being some pretty bad timing with freak storms knocking out parts of the grid.
Regardless, it brought into question the state’s focus on renewables – how could wind turbines power a state and help with the peak capacity? How can solar help the evening peak when the sun has gone down.
Many believe that renewables can power a nation, when paired with batteries. Enter Elon Musk and Tesla.
Well, enter Mike Cannon-Brooks – Aussie Squillionaire who challenged Elon to provide the battery storage to support South Australia’s energy needs.
Elon was quick to respond:
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
And now just four months later – a blink of the eye in government bureaucracy terms – a deal is done.
The world’s largest lithium ion battery will be built in South Australia – with French renewables firm Noeon incorporating Tesla Batteries into their South Australian Wind Farm.
A 100MW installation, providing 129MWh of battery storage/power – it’s a beast.
And South Australia – along with the green movement frankly – need it to work.
Gotta love it when a plan comes together.
