An historic partnership between Tesla, the South Australian Government, and French renewable energy company Neoen will see the world's largest lithium ion battery installed at a wind farm in South Australia by the close of 2017.After what it described as a "competitive bidding process", Tesla issued a statement on Friday confirming that it has been selected to provide an enormous battery powerpack system that will be charged using energy generated by Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm in Jamestown.The battery will be far larger than any other large-scale battery energy storage system on earth—with 100 megawatts of capacity providing 129 megawatt-hours of energy generation to the South Australian region. A similar powerpack built by Tesla last year in Ontario, California offers only 20 megawatts of capacity and 80 megawatt-hours. According to Tesla, the new battery will "deliver electricity during peak hours to help maintain the reliable operation of South Australia's electrical infrastructure."Tesla CEO Elon Musk is enthusiastic about the deal, as evidenced by this tweet in which he confirms "Australia rocks!" Musk has also guaranteed the South Australian Government that Tesla's battery will be built within 100 days of his formally signing the agreement. If the build doesn't happen on time, South Australia doesn't have to pay a cent.Musk has been interested in entering South Australia's renewable energy market for some time. In September 2016, the state experienced a severe storm that caused a massive blackout and left almost two million residents without electricity. Blackouts continued to occur throughout the summer of 2016 and 2017, with many Australian politicians—correctly or incorrectly, depending on who you believe—blaming the state's reliance on renewable technologies for its energy troubles. Musk reached out to the South Australian government back when the blackouts began, offering to solve the state's electricity woes with a giant back-up battery of the kind he will now be building.The estimated completion date for the new powerpack is December 2017, with the system to provide enough power for more than 30,000 South Australian homes. Tesla says the new energy storage project will "help solve power shortages, reduce intermittencies, and manage summertime peak load to improve the reliability of South Australia's electrical infrastructure."
After testing its powers in South Australia, Tesla promises to bring the project to the world."Tesla is proud to be part of South Australia's renewable energy future, and we expect this project will provide a model for future deployments around the world that will help significantly accelerate the adoption of sustainable energy," the company said.Follow Kat on Twitter
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