World’s largest battery installed in South Australia by Tesla, testing begins soon

Tesla battery to be fed electricity from Hornsdale Wind Farm

On Thursday, the South Australian government announced that the giant lithium-ion battery built by Tesla has been installed and testing will begin soon.

The project, which will be capable of supply electricity to 30,000 households for a period of eight hours at peak summer consumption rates, has propelled South Australia to a leadership position in renewable energy with battery storage.

South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherhill said “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.”

The giant battery built by Tesla will also offset the intermittent nature of renewable energy and will be fed electricity from Neoen’s Hornsdale Wind Farm.

“The world’s largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix, and it sends the clearest message that South Australia will be a leader renewable energy with battery storage,” said  Weatherill.

Last year, South Australia suffered a severe blackout that left 1.7 million people without electricity.  At the time, Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull lashed out at state regulations that he said resulted in too heavy a reliance on renewable energy.

The Australian Energy Market Operator found the blackout was caused by protection mechanisms at some wind farms in South Australia that were too sensitive.  As well, there was no adequate energy storage system for the wind energy.

In March, responding to the incident, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that his company could build a storage system with enough capacity to solve the state’s problem within 100 days of signing the contract.

The deal was signed in July, and Tesla said the project should be completed by December.

The official launch of the battery complex is scheduled for next week.