Tesla and Southern California Edison (SCE) have reportedly concluded construction on the enormous 80 MWh energy storage station, deploying the new Powerpack2 at the Mira Loma substation. Although there are bigger projects in the making, this one seems to be the biggest energy storage project using lithium-ion batteries in the world as of now, according to Electrek.
A massive project
Tesla and SCE have yet to officially announce their new substation, but citing an unnamed source, Electrek says the new Powerpack installation was completed a few weeks ago and was brought online so that the electric utility can start using it to manage peak demand.
This is a huge project with 400 Tesla Powerpack 2 storage units, which stores more than twice the energy of Tesla’s first-generation Powerpack: 210 kWh versus 100 kWh. The new project packs a capacity of 20MW/80MWh, enough to store energy to transmit to more than 2,500 households for a day, notes Electrek.
The project came into action after SCE needed storage solutions following the shutdown of the Aliso Canyon natural gas reservoir due to a catastrophic rupture in 2015. If this project proves to be successful, then it could serve as an inspiration for an alternative to peak plants.
Tesla’s storage solutions getting popular
Tesla Energy was launched in 2015, and since then, the company has delivered 300 Mwh of Powerpack and Powerwall battery packs. This means that Mira Loma’s 80 MWh “is likely to make the latest quarter’s Tesla’s best for energy storage product,” says Electrek.
It is also one of the first new inverters developed indigenously at Tesla. It helps bring down the cost of the units and enhance their efficiency and power density. The system is designed to charge using electricity from the grid during off-peak hours and then distribute that electricity during peak hours to make sure that SCE’s customers are not dependent on the natural gas peaker plants.
According to Electrek, a company executive said that Tesla has been in conversations with a number of large utility-scale energy projects. The EV firm has also signed an agreement for 34 MWh of battery capacity projects for water treatment facilities in California and several other smaller projects like a 3 MWh Powerpack system at a luxury safari lodge in the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
On Monday, Tesla shares closed down 1.71% at $248.92. Year to date, the stock is up more than 16%, while in the last year, it is up almost 23%. The stock has a 52-week high of $269.34 and a 52-week low of $141.05.
