Watch Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveil progress on world’s largest battery

Elon Musk announced that Tesla is well on its way to completing the world’s largest lithium ion battery in Jamestown, Australia, at a Powerpack event held at Noeon Hornsdale wind farm on September 29.

After just two months of construction, the facility is already operating at a 50 MW level. The world’s largest battery is expected to be fully operational in December 2017. Tesla said in a statement that the company partnered with Neoen, a renewable energy provider, and will complete the world’s largest battery pack within the next 100 days.

“Tesla was selected from over 90 competitive bids to provide the entire energy storage component of a 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack System to be paired with global renewable energy provider Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia. The interconnection agreement has been approved by AEMO and has just been signed this afternoon by Electranet. Tesla and Neoen now have 100 days to complete the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world.” read the press release from Tesla.

Once fully operational, Musk said the plant will deliver 100 MW of energy to Southern Australia. In addition to the Powerpack opening event, Tesla also posted a time lapse of the construction of the facility on Instagram.

On schedule to complete the largest lithium-ion battery system in the world in December

A post shared by Tesla (@teslamotors) on Sep 29, 2017 at 2:46am PDT

For Musk, who earlier in the day presented his vision for SpaceX-built Martian cities at IAC2017 in Australia, the world’s largest battery project is a precursor to what is expected to be the future of battery-powered energy sources.

“What this serves as is a great example for the rest of the world of what can be done,” Musk said. “So when this is done, which will be in just a few months, it will be the largest battery installation, by an estimated power factor of three, in the world.”

The Powerpack opening event was powered entirely by the Powerpack system, giving attendees a taste of what was possible.

“Talk is cheap, action is difficult. And the reason we worked as hard as we possibly could and got as much done as possible was to show that it’s not just talk it’s reality,” Musk said.

“Everything you see here, this whole event, everything, is powered by those packs,” he said, pointing out the window at the battery facility. “There are no generators, this is all coming from that system over there.”

The world’s largest battery was constructed after sweeping blackouts across Southern Australia. Musk tweeted that he would fix the power crisis in Southern Australia, a move he quipped about with supporters at the event.

“As you guys know, a year ago the situation was pretty dire … One tweet leads to another, and then pretty soon that,” he said, pointing again to the Powerpack facility.

For Musk and Tesla, the Hornsdale battery facility is the first step toward revolutionizing energy across the globe. Musk ended his presentation at the facility by talking about the space needed to power all of Australia with renewable energy and battery packs.

“That is what the future will look like,” Musk said in closing, “and the faster we get there, the better.”

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