Not content with having the world’s largest battery, Australia is pushing ahead with another remarkable project using Tesla’s battery technology.
South Australia plans to create the world’s first ‘virtual power plant’ by equipping some 50,000 homes with solar panels and Tesla’s new Powerwall 2 batteries.
Combined it would effectively create a vast grid of homes that can produce clean energy and then feed it back into the national grid.
South Australia energy hope to reduce people’s electricity bills by as much as 30% through the project.
The cost of the solar panels and the Tesla battery would be covered by South Australian energy on the basis that it would recoup its investment through the electricity that’s produced.
It’s an ambitious project and one that actually fits in with Musk’s own theories around how renewable energy can be used in a meaningful way.
The project has already started with a trial run of 1,100 Housing Trust properties receiving a 5kW solar arrays and a 13kWh battery. If successful the plan is to then expand with a further 24,000 Housing Trust properties.
South Australia is already home to the world’s largest battery, again courtesy of Tesla.
The 100MW complex is tied into a wind farm near Jamestown and was built to provide a safe and reliable source of backup electricity following the recent blackouts that have plagued the local area.