An artist’s impression of the Tesla Powerpack, which will be built in Australia | Tesla
Tesla has just won a big deal in South Australia that comes with big stakes. The Australian state just awarded the electric car firm the bid to install the world’s largest lithium-ion battery that will be used to store wind energy from French company Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm, which is located outside of Jamestown, South Australia. Tesla CEO Elon Musk proclaimed that they will build the 100-megawatt battery within 100 days or else they’ll do it for free. Musk acknowledges the risk that comes with the project, though. He says, “There is certainly some risk, because this will be the largest battery installation in the world by a significant margin. The next biggest battery in the world is 30 megawatts.”
South Australia has been dealing with blackouts since September last year and this project hopes to bring in additional power that the state can use during emergencies. The battery, together with the wind farm, will be working around the clock to make sure this happens. Tesla expects to finish the project by December this year. If they won’t be able to meet its deadlines, Tesla might be on the hook for US$50 million or more in installation costs.