World’s biggest battery activated after Tesla’s Elon Musk keeps his 100 day promise

Technology magnate Musk promised to create the battery for South Australia after the entire territory endured a blackout last year.

The 100-megawatt cell was officially activated today but provided some power yesterday due to demand caused by a heatwave.

South Australia has been crippled by electricity problems in recent years caused by increased demand.

It raced ahead of the rest of the country by turning to wind power.

The policy triggered a shutdown of coal-fired plants and led to frequent power cuts and increased energy prices. 

Another drawback to South Australia’s heavy reliance on renewables has been its inability to adequately store that energy, leading to shortages when there is no wind. 

So a delighted State premier Jay Weatherill was overjoyed at the battery’s official switch-on.

He said: “This is history in the making.”

Mr Weatherill said the battery would prevent the repeat of an incident last year when the whole state was plunged into darkness.

Tech billionaire Mr Musk described it as three times more powerful than the world’s next biggest battery.

The idea began when Mr Musk was asked on Twitter if he was serious about helping to resolve South Australia’s electricity woes.

Mr Musk said he would help and pledged if the battery was not built within 100 days, the state would receive it for free.

The countdown began on 30 September after a plan was approved by the state government and regulators. 

Tesla finished the battery in about 60 days.

Located near Jamestown, about 125 miles north of Adelaide, the battery is connected to a wind farm run by French energy company Neoen.

When fully charged, the battery can power up to 30,000 homes for an hour. 

However, it will mostly be used to support and stabilise existing electricity supplies.

The battery is comprised of a grid system that runs on the same technology that powers Tesla’s electric cars.

The company said the completion of the battery “shows that a sustainable, effective energy solution is possible”.