Tesla to Supply Australia with World’s Largest Lithium Storage Battery

Tesla Inc. has won a contract to build a 100-megawatt lithium-ion storage battery in the state of South Australia.

The battery system, billed as the largest lithium-ion unit in the world, will serve as a backup power supply for homes and businesses by storing energy generated by windmills. The system, which is said to have more than three times the capacity of the largest current lithium-ion unit, will be able to power as many as 30,000 homes during a blackout.

Tesla has vowed to complete the project within 100 days of finalizing an electricity grid interconnection agreement with the Australian state. If Tesla doesn’t meet the deadline, it will provide the battery for free, which CEO Elon Musk says would cost the company at least $50 million.

The battery will be built on a wind farm operated by French renewable energy company Neoen. South Australia has been closing coal-fired power stations over the last three years to focus on alternative power sources, with wind now generating 40% of its energy. But lack of sufficient storage capacity left many of the state’s 1.7 million residents without power during storms last September.

The new battery/wind farm is part of a $420 million plan announced in March by South Australia Premier Jay Weatherill to make the state independent of Australia's national power grid.