It seems like Elon Musk is a man of his word. Back in March this year, Musk made a bet with Australian billionaire that his company, Tesla, would be able to get the system to provide backup power to the state of South Australia within 100 days or it would be free. Now, Musk has made an announcement that the project was completed. In a tweet he stated, “Congratulations to the Tesla crew and South Australian authorities who worked so hard to get this manufactured and installed in record time!”
Business Insider notes that the clock started ticking back in September this year when he signed the contract, but work had already begun after the Australian Government awarded the contract to Musk back in July.
The installation is a result of the Australian Government's efforts to resolve the electricity issues in the state of South Australia where storms caused state-wide blackouts. The system offers a 100MW/129MWh Powerpack system, and uses sustainable wind energy. It will be paired with the Neoen Hornsdale Wind Farm near Jamestown, South Australia. The company also claims that it is the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage project.
Once the installation is fully charged, it is expected to hold enough power for 8,000 homes for 24 hours, or 30,000 homes for an hour. It will be called into action during periods of loadshedding, during which excess demand for energy leads to blackouts. Currently, the system still needs to undergo testing to ensure it is optimised and meets the energy market regulatory requirements.
A few days ago, Musk unveiled a new electric truck as well as a new roadster as well. The Tesla Semi truck is said to have a range of 300 to 500 miles and accelerate from 0 to 60 miles/hour to in 20 seconds while hauling over 80,000 pounds. The new Roadster is said to offer acceleration of 0 to 60 miles/hour in 1.9 seconds and a top speed of over 250 miles/hour. The company claims that the new vehicle is has a range of 650 miles.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/933576358793318401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw