Tesla to create the biggest virtual power station in Australia

South Australian state authorities in cooperation with Tesla launch a pilot project aimed to create the largest virtual power plant. During the experiment solar mini-power plants will be equipped with 1,100...

South Australian state authorities in cooperation with Tesla launch a pilot project aimed to create the largest virtual power plant.

During the experiment solar mini-power plants will be equipped with 1,100 houses of Housing Trust, which has been operating since 1983 and provides housing for a low-income family or homeless people.

Each power plant includes solar panels installed directly on the roofs of the houses and a Tesla Powerwall 2 battery with a capacity of 13.5 kilowatt-hours.

The project was funded with $ 2 million by the South Australian government. Another $ 30 million of borrowed funds was provided by Renewable Technology. The installation of Tesla equipment will be completely free of charge for the tenants, the costs will be reimbursed subsequently by selling surplus electricity to the general network. The first renewable energy of the state will be provided to the population in need, for whom tariffs for electricity are too high.

If the idea turns out to be successful, such autonomous power supply systems will be installed on 24 thousand more houses, and by 2022 - on 50 thousand.

The new solution is called a virtual power plant, because Tesla engineers will create a distributed system of small solar power plants, combined into a 250 megawatt-hour network with a 650 megawatt-hour energy storage system instead of traditional centralized energy storage facilities with huge capacity.

The new experiment continues the trend for the development of alternative energy in South Australia. At the end of 2017 the world's largest lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 100 megawatt-hours began to operate on the territory of the state. Tesla spent two months on the construction of the device.