Whenever the grid in any place is in danger of not meeting demand, thermal power plants kick in to save the day. At the cost of loads of CO2 in the atmosphere. Deemed as some of the dirtiest energy solutions around, “peakers” are with their days numbered in what depends on Tesla and its new energy solution, the Megapack.
Created as a development of the giant Hornsdale battery pack produced with Powerpack units, Megapack presents many advantages. Tesla indicates in its blog it “can deploy an emissions-free 250 MW, 1 GWh power plant in less than three months on a three-acre footprint.”
That would be “four times faster than a traditional fossil fuel power plant of that size” to build. Strangely, on the page Tesla presents Megapack, it says the energy solution has a “10x faster installation”.
There is no explanation for the difference, but it is probably related to the mentioned capacities. Tesla states a 1 GWh unit would be four times faster to build, but it mentions the ten times faster installation for the individual Megapack capacity, at 3 MWh each unit.
Any sort of 3 MWh energy generation device will probably take much more time to emerge than connecting a Megapack’s AC output to any wiring. Which is all it requires to start working, according to Tesla. If that is the case, a ten times faster installation is probably an understatement.
Another advantage of the Megapack is that it has a high power density, 60 percent superior to that of similar battery packs. Tesla claims Megapack requires 40 percent less space for being installed.
The company names many applications for Megapack on its dedicated page, but the main one in our opinion is smoothing out the intermittency of renewable-source power plants – such as solar or wind farms.
The main argument against these solutions is that energy generation depends on what nature offers. You can have strong winds at a time there is no need for electricity. Megapacks help balance that by storing that energy for when it is really necessary.
In the video tweet we have shown about the fulfilling of Tesla’s first Master Plan, Elon Musk says this: “If it is not renewable, that means it will run out at some point. And we will have the choice of the collapse of civilization – and into the Dark Ages we go – or we find something renewable.”
While the first Master Plan seems to have been completed, it can always be perfected. And Megapacks provide more for the fourth objective, which is “provide zero-emission electric power generation options”.
The first application of Megapacks will be at the Moss Landing energy storage project for Pacific Gas and Electric, in California. Tesla will provide 182.5 MW for 20 years. Way below what Dynegy Marketing and Trade will offer: 300 MW. Which company will perform better at the task? Let's hear your comments about this.
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