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[jambo]

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/07/all-the-details-on-teslas-giant-australian-batteryt/

An installation 60 per cent larger than any other large-scale battery energy storage system on the planet.

In partnership with the SA government and French renewables company Neoen, alongside the third stage of the Hornsdale Wind Farm, the PowerPack battery farm will top 100 megawatts of capacity and provide 129 megawatt-hours of energy generation to the region — load balancing the state's renewable energy generation and allowing emergency back-up power if a shortfall in energy production is predicted.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk famously promised that Tesla would get a battery system installed and up and running within 100 days of contract signature or it would be free, and SA's government has taken him up on that — from the signature of the grid interconnection agreement, Tesla will have a little over three months to set up the PowerPack substation.

https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/blog/te...ustainable-energy-south-australia?redirect=no

Last September, a 50-year storm damaged critical infrastructure in the state of South Australia, causing a state-wide blackout and leaving 1.7 million residents without electricity. Further blackouts occurred in the heat of the Australian summer in early 2017. In response, the South Australian Government as a leader in renewable energy, looked for a sustainable solution to ensure energy security for all residents, now and into the future, calling for expressions of interest to deploy grid-scale energy storage options with at least 100 megawatts (MW) of capacity.

This week, through a competitive bidding process, Tesla was selected to provide a 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system to be paired with global renewable energy provider Neoen's Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia. Tesla was awarded the entire energy storage system component of the project.

Tesla Powerpack will charge using renewable energy from the Hornsdale Wind Farm and then deliver electricity during peak hours to help maintain the reliable operation of South Australia's electrical infrastructure.

After losing power for a day or so last year in the storm, and again during summer, very happy to see this happening so quickly.

Will also be great to become energy independent and not have to rely on interstate power during peak loads in summer. And all renewable!

 

[Fat4all]

i can finally play my Sega Nomad for 12 hours straight!

 

[Mr_Moogle]

Holy shit this is actually happening? Does this mean we won't have to keep copping shit from the east coast?

 

[30yearsofhurt]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1402462

 

[tuna_love]

Holy shit this is actually happening? Does this mean we won't have to keep copping shit from the east coast?

youll still live in south australia

 

[Veins]

youll still live in south australia

Savage

Spoiler

but true

 

[phatmike128]

youll still live in south australia

Holy shit. Brutal.
Feel like I want to upvote this comment.

 

[Machina]

Holy shit this is actually happening? Does this mean we won't have to keep copping shit from the east coast?

Give me even one reason why that isn't appropriate lol

 

[Shandy]

In all honesty, I often forget that South Australia even exists.

Spoiler

but I like what you're doing with renewable energy

 

[chicko1983]

Biggest battery in the world - you wish you had it east coasters, just like the tour down under.

 

[Machina]

Biggest battery in the world - you wish you had it east coasters, just like the tour down under.

I wish whatever was responsible for the Great Australian Bite wasn't just a tad more hungry

 

[AdventureRacing]

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/07/all-the-details-on-teslas-giant-australian-batteryt/



https://www.tesla.com/en_AU/blog/te...ustainable-energy-south-australia?redirect=no



After losing power for a day or so last year in the storm, and again during summer, very happy to see this happening so quickly.

Will also be great to become energy independent and not have to rely on interstate power during peak loads in summer. And all renewable!

Malcolm Turnbull blaming that power outage on renewable energy has been such an awful attempt to mislead the public. They've actually pushed it so hard that people have started to believe it as well.

This is an awesome result though and hopefully will ensure that renewables keep getting the push they deserve. This country is so far behind when it comes to carbon emissions.

 

[mrklaw]

this seems a horribly inefficient use of natural resources. Surely for large scale energy storage you'd be looking at storing potential energy in other ways - fuel cells, hydro pumping etc.

 

[Theonik]

Seems like a bad solution. I'd rather they stored heat or hydro etc. Batteries are not very good and are actually necessary elsewhere. (Cars, phones etc)

 

[Ghost]

I wonder what the running costs are going to be, presumably the batteries will start to deteriorate and need replacing pretty regularly?

 

[bobnowhere]

I wonder what the running costs are going to be, presumably the batteries will start to deteriorate and need replacing pretty regularly?

I was only half watching the presser but he suggested somewhere in the region of 15-25 years and that depends on how fast they are charged, whether they are fully charged and then completely emptied etc...

Musk did mention the primary component, Nickel, can be recovered easily and constitute about a 20% return of investment at end of life. Obviously you aren't up for new replacement cost but various components are staged and anyway who the hell knows where battery tech will be in 20 years.

Funny how the federal government have gone completely silent all of a sudden.

 

[DrSlek]

Seems like a bad solution. I'd rather they stored heat or hydro etc. Batteries are not very good and are actually necessary elsewhere,". (Cars, phones etc)

There's no areas in South Australia suitable for hydro and there's no solar planets in SA that can utilise stored heat. Setting up both of those solutions would be several hundred million dollar projects. This battery facility will apparently be $50 million. It's the more cost effective option.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

i can finally play my Sega Nomad for 12 hours straight!

This reply deserves more love.

 

[Theonik]

There's no areas in South Australia suitable for hydro and there's no solar planets in SA that can utilise stored heat. Setting up both of those solutions would be several hundred million dollar projects. This battery facility will apparently be $50 million. It's the more cost effective option.

You can convert electricity into heat. Sure it's less efficient than straight heat solar but it's better than batteries.

 

[_Clash_]

People acting like Adelaide ain't awesome

you all sleeping

 

[bobnowhere]

You can convert electricity into heat. Sure it's less efficient than straight heat solar but it's better than batteries.

Look batteries on this scale with this technology isn't ideal but time is the factor here. It really needs to be done by peak demand in Summer and no other tech can match the timeframe.

Basically Australia has a lot of gas but the geniuses in charge decided to sign massive volume deals to export it all to East Asia without building in a national reserve for power generation or domestic use. Australia can't hope to fill these orders to Asia so the LNG export companies actually buy gas at a loss to keep the plants going and the contracts fulfilled. We are now at the ridiculous situation that it is cheaper to export gas to Asia as LNG and then import it back to generate power than try to buy it on the domestic market.

The other problem is how the states sell electricity to each other. One of the reasons for the statewide blackout last year was the backup gas plant in South Australia decided against turning on the plant to generate electricity because they could make much more money selling there supply to export.

It's basically free-marketeers gone made for short term gain.

 

[chicko1983]

The best part is that if it's not built in 100 days it's free.

Ive worked on some of the biggest infrastructure projects in the state and can't see this being done unless all the workers are from out of the country try and have no union.

 

[Theonik]

Look batteries on this scale with this technology isn't ideal but time is the factor here. It really needs to be done by peak demand in Summer and no other tech can match the timeframe.

Basically Australia has a lot of gas but the geniuses in charge decided to sign massive volume deals to export it all to East Asia without building in a national reserve for power generation or domestic use. Australia can't hope to fill these orders to Asia so the LNG export companies actually buy gas at a loss to keep the plants going and the contracts fulfilled. We are now at the ridiculous situation that it is cheaper to export gas to Asia as LNG and then import it back to generate power than try to buy it on the domestic market.

The other problem is how the states sell electricity to each other. One of the reasons for the statewide blackout last year was the backup gas plant in South Australia decided against turning on the plant to generate electricity because they could make much more money selling there supply to export.

It's basically free-marketeers gone made for short term gain.

That doesn't sound like a failure of the free market but a failure of state infrastructure planning.

 

[Cellbomber]

The guy who was criticized for poor working conditions saying he will build something in 100 days or it's free. Seems like nothing could go wrong here for the workers.