Elon Musk wins the bet: 100 days to create a gigantic battery

Tireless and decidedly nonconformist, the entrepreneur Elon Musk he had promised via Twitter in July his will to build what promises to be the largest battery in the world in South Australia to help the country avoid power blackouts. In early July, he pledged to build the battery for free if he couldn’t complete it in 100 days. A challenge of those that he likes.
He won the bet and this translates into a cost of the facility of at least 50 million dollars.
This is confirmed by state premier Jay Weatherill: he has just announced that tests of the massive lithium-ion battery should begin in days, in view of December 1, the deadline set by Musk while signing the project.

Elon Musk ready to solve the energy problem in Australia

Elon Musk has decided to engage in this project in response to energy problems in South Australia, a country hit by a blackout last year. It was caused by the strong winds of an unprecedented storm that brought down transmission towers from the ground. A disaster that has caused prices to rise.

“South Australia is set to have backup power this summer thanks to the world’s largest lithium-ion battery. It will be ready in the next few days, as soon as it enters the regulatory testing phase, ”Weatherill announced Thursday.

The Tesla Powerpack Of Elon Musk is connected to a wind farm managed by the French energy company Neoen and should contain enough energy for thousands of homes in the event of an emergency and excess demand following a possible blackout.

Australia: one of the most polluting countries in the world

The South African (naturalized US) entrepreneur – who was one of the founders of PayPal, at the head of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, engaged in the development and launch of spacecraft – is also president of SolarCitya company engaged in the installation of solar panels recently acquired by Tesla.

Musk envisioned Tesla as a company that can help reduce emissions by not only selling electric cars, but also generating and storing the solar energy that powers them.

Australia it is one of the countries that pollute the most in terms of greenhouse gases per capita in the world because it makes massive use of coal energy.

A 100 MWh battery implanted in the capital Adelaide

The property is a storage farm ready to house one 100 battery MWhenough to power 30,000 homes.

In December last year, Tesla activated a 80 MWh battery on a farm in Southern California: it took 90 days to complete and cost $ 100 million.

Musk’s next challenge aims to solve the energy problem resulting from the closing of the Hazelwood power plant in Victoria (Australia). The whole area has had to endure blackouts, fluctuations in energy prices and not a few political clashes.

It will be a system three times more powerful than any other on Earth. Will be built in Jamestown230 kilometers north of Adelaide, and will be combined with a nearby wind farm operated by Neoen, a French renewable energy company that operates Europe’s largest solar energy park in southwestern France.