A short post today about about Tesla’s Giant Battery - recently setup in South Australia and already providing record amount of energy to the grid at a fraction of the cost. There is a lot of Tesla noise in the news, so it’s great to read about the actual technical progress being made.

Tesla’s 100MW/129MWh Powerpack project in South Australia provide the same grid services as peaker plants, but cheaper, quicker, and with zero-emissions, through its battery system.

Some highlights from the report on the Giant Battery:

  • Has contributed to the removal of the requirement for a 35 MW local Frequency Control Ancillary Service (FCAS), saving nearly $40 million per year in typical annual costs
  • Has reduced the South Australian regulation FCAS price by 75% while also providing these services for other regions
  • Provides a premium contingency service with response time of less than 100 milliseconds
  • Helps protect South Australia from being separated from the National Electricity Market