South Australia has announced Elon Musk's Tesla as the principal builder of the world's largest lithium ion battery to expand the state's renewable energy supply.
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Tesla to build world's largest battery
Elon Musk's Tesla will be installing the world's largest lithium-ion battery storage project in South Australia. Video courtesy ABC News.
The mega-project will be built in conjunction with French renewable energy firm Neoen and paired with Neoen's existing Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, north of Adelaide.
SA Premier Jay Weatherill said the "extraordinary collaboration" would deliver a grid-scale battery that would "stabilise the South Australian network as well as putting downward pressure on prices".
"Battery storage is the future of our national energy market, and the eyes of the world will be following our leadership in this space," he said.
The project is intended to sustain 100 megawatts of power and store 129 megawatt hours, which could power about 30,000 homes according to Tesla. That was more than three times as powerful as the world's next-largest such battery, Mr Musk said on Friday.
The billionaire entrepreneur, who first expressed interest in the project over Twitter in March, promised to stick by his pledge to have the system installed and operating within 100 days from signing a contract "or it is free".
"That's what we said publicly, that's what we're going to do," Mr Musk said.
The project, slated for completion by December, will harness the existing Hornsdale Wind Farm to charge the mega-battery while the wind is blowing and discharge power when it is most needed.
"It's a fundamental efficiency improvement to the power grid, and it's really quite necessary and quite obvious considering a renewable energy future," Mr Musk said.
Romain Desrousseaux, deputy chief executive of Neoen, said the project would demonstrate "large-scale battery storage is both possible and now commercially viable" and can provide "dependable, distributable power".
South Australia's electricity troubles, including numerous blackouts, have become a politically contentious issue between the state and federal governments, amid debate about the capacity of renewable energy.
A freak storm in September destroyed transmission lines, triggering backup systems. A key interstate connector with Victoria was ultimately tripped "off" due to automatic safety precautions. But early responses from Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and other commentators pinned some of the blame on the state's reliance on renewables.
In a final report, the Australian Energy Market Operator said a higher reliance on "non-synchronous" forms of energy such as wind and solar meant the power grid was "experiencing more periods with low inertia and low available fault levels", and was more susceptible in times of crisis.
"AEMO is working with industry on ways to use the capability of these new types of power generation to build resilience to extreme events," the report noted.
Tesla, which had become the most valuable carmaker in the US, has seen its share value fall by 20 per cent since June 22, losing $US12 billion ($15.8 billion) in market capitalisation.
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