Just in time for its peak summer demand, the state of South Australia has added "the world's largest lithium ion battery" to its energy mix, state Premier Jay Weatherill announced, as Tesla Inc. completed the 100-MW/129-MWh system at Neoen SAS' Hornsdale Wind Farm ahead of a 100-day deadline for delivery of the project.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had promised to provide the system free of charge if it failed to meet the deadline.
The project shows South Australia's leadership in pairing renewable energy with storage, Weatherill said in a news release Nov. 23. "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," he said. Tesla won the project in a competitive bidding process launched after a series of storm- and heat-related blackouts hit the state in 2016 and early 2017.
Audrey Zibelman, CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator and former chair of the New York State Public Service Commission, confirmed via Twitter that the battery charged for the first time on Nov. 24, reaching 31 MW in two minutes as part of testing. "It will provide valuable system security services by helping to maintain frequency within operational limits and will also be available to provide emergency back-up power," the grid operator said in its latest Summer Operations report, released Nov. 28.
Given the "unprecedented nature of the technology," the system operator had to update "a number of its models, processes, and systems to register and connect the battery," it added.
Tesla signaled in a Nov. 1 third-quarter update letter that the project was "well on track to meet our 100-day deadline," with 80% of the battery packs already installed at that time. The integrated electric vehicle, energy storage and solar company's battery manufacturing partner Panasonic Corp., as well as South Korean lithium ion battery rivals LG Chem Ltd. and Samsung SDI Co. Ltd., posted strong growth in battery revenues in the third quarter, driven by orders for stationary energy storage systems and electric vehicle batteries.
