South Australia (SA) is home to one of Tesla’s biggest battery installations in the world in Hornsdale, which recently underwent an upgrade to increase its capacity to 150 megawatts.
Thanks to Tesla, a total of 4,100 low-income houses in SA will soon have Tesla Powerwalls and Solar installations as phase 3 of its home battery-based virtual power plant (VPP) begins.
According to SA Energy minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan, an additional 3,000 SA Housing properties will get the new equipment, with the eventual goal of reaching 50,000 homes, both public and private.
“Tesla’s vision is to grow this VPP to include 50,000 homes across South Australia and has already started adding private households in addition to the Housing SA tenants participating in the project.”
Phase 3 will see a 5kW rooftop solar installation paired with a 13.5kWh Powerwall 2 battery installed at a cost of an estimated AUD $60.6 million. Tesla is contributing AUD $18 million to the project.
In addition to the equipment, the households will get their electricity at a flat-rate that is 22% lower than current market rates.
Once installed, the combined 20MW of rooftop solar and 54MWh of combined energy storage will allow the houses to act as a VPP. Excess energy from the solar panels can be sent back to the grid to provide stability and help prevent power outages.
Source: One Step Off The Grid
