HORNSDALE: One year after the state of South Australia suffered a major
blackout, the clock has started ticking for Tesla Inc to finish building the
world's biggest battery to help keep the lights on in Australia's most
wind-dependent state.
Tesla won a bid in July to build a 129 megawatt hour (MWh) battery and
the state is counting on it to be ready by the start of the southern summer in
December when electricity demand begins to peak.
Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk vowed to install it within 100
days of signing a grid connection agreement or give it to the state for free.
The grid agreement was signed on Friday, triggering the 100-day countdown,
Tesla said.
At an event highlighting the construction progress on the battery,
which is already half complete, Musk once again spoke of the future he sees for
renewable energy and batteries.
"This is just the beginning. What this serves as is a great
example of what can be done," Musk said at the event, which was powered
entirely by battery packs.
Musk was speaking from the construction site of the battery, which is
being built at a wind farm operated by France's Neoen that is located about 225
km (141 miles) from the South Australian capital of Adelaide and will supply
power to the lithium-ion storage cells.
Last year's state-wide blackout was blamed by opponents of renewable energy
on the state's rush to embrace wind and solar, and fuelled a backlash that has
split Australia's conservative federal government and led to renewed calls to
support coal-fired power.
South Australia hopes the Tesla battery will forestall further blackouts,
but Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison says it is just a "Hollywood
solution" that is not solving the bigger problem of how to supply power
when the wind isn't blowing.
"The batteries are on track to be operational by December 1,"
South Australia Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis told Reuters.
Analysts have estimated the battery should cost around US$750 to US$950 per kilowatt, or up to US$95mil . Musk said in July
the cost to Tesla would be "US$50mil or more" if it failed to deliver the
project on time.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has warned the country faces a
very tight power market this summer, following the closure of one Australia's
biggest coal-fired power stations in the neighbouring state of Victoria.
"The battery has a very useful role to play in the South
Australian electricity system at the moment," said Sydney-based energy
analyst David Leitch at ITK Services Australia, adding it was valuable
insurance against the much heavier costs of another blackout.
The state's biggest power user, global miner BHP's Olympic Dam copper
mine, alone lost US$105mil
last year when it was shut
for two weeks by the blackout, wiping out the mine's annual profit.
The battery has been designed to help cover temporary dips in wind
power, say for 15 minutes, or help control frequency on the grid at times when
natural gas-fired plants are unable to help balance generation and power
demand.
"What they're trying to do is buy a little
bit of time for other systems to respond to fluctuations," said Bikal
Pokharel, an analyst with energy consultants Wood Mackenzie in Singapore. —
Reuters
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