Tesla and South Australia are taking their partnership in the field of renewable energy forward. The company already built the world’s biggest battery for the region to help with its energy woes and it did that in record time. It’s now going to work with the South Australian government which says that the two will build the world’s largest virtual power plant.
The world’s largest virtual power plant will rely on solar panels and Tesla batteries that are installed in at least 50,000 homes over the next four years. The equipment at these homes will essentially form a 250MW virtual power plant.
The solar panels will harvest energy from the sun and store them in Tesla’s batteries. Any and all excess energy that the household doesn’t require will be fed into the grid. The grid is going to be controlled centrally and will deliver the excess energy to the state as and when required.
The initial trial has already commenced as a 5kW solar panel system and a 13.5kWh Tesla Powerwall 2 battery have already been installed for free in 1,100 public housing properties. The system will be installed at an additional 24,000 public houses in the second stage before a wider rollout for private homes next year.
Tesla says that when this virtual power plant is completed, it will essentially provide the same amount of capacity as a coal or gas turbine power plant. The government says that this is going to cut electricity costs by 30 percent for households that participate in this project and it has already seen expressions of interest from more than 6,500 people.
Filed in .. Source: premier.sa.gov.au