Tesla ’s South Australian Powerpack Project , the world ’s largest atomic number 3 - ion battery , was fire up at the ending of last year . Not only is this farm - sized barrage fire alreadyproving to bean unbelievable piece of tech , it could also be an exceptionally wise investiture for Tesla CEO Elon Musk .

Within just a twosome of twenty-four hours , the Powerpack Project could have made approximately AUS $ 1 million ( US   $ 810,000 ) through the electricity sweeping market place , fit in to an estimate by Australian clean energy news siteRenewEconomy . consider that the project cost an estimated US $ 50 million to set up , that ’s a solid few minute ' workplace .

The battery , located on theHornsdale Power Reserveadjacent to the Hornsdale wind farm in South Australia , can technically earn money by carry excesses of electricity . Typically , supply and demand for electricity have to be matched at all clock time . During meter when supplying surmount requirement , electricity is negatively priced , so consumers arepaid to take electricity outof the storage-battery grid . With renewable energy author , like lead or solar , computer memory battery syllabus are even more utilitarian as the flow of electrical energy might not be reliable or controllable .

Working in collaboration with the South Australian Government and renewable energy society Neoen ,   Tesla can profit by soak up spare energy and hive away it for tardy use . Tesla ’s contract with the government is not completely clear , butRenewEconomyworked out this estimate based on name of power input and outputs from the Hornsdale Power Reserve , compound with the wholesale price . Earlier this month , Electrekalso figure that Tesla managed to earn a cool US $ 790 / MWh to absorb extra electricity from the national power power grid .

When the idea of the Powerpack was first coming to realization , Elon Musk rate a   wager on Twitter that he could build the world ’s biggest battery in Southern Australia within100 solar day or it would be liberal . No surprises , they delivered on time . A system of Tesla ’s Powerpack batteries was alsoused to doctor powerto storm - shoot down Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria .

By the looks of things , these extremely - successful task are just the first steps in a skipper programme .

“ Tesla is majestic to be part of South Australia ’s renewable energy future , and we anticipate this project will provide a mannikin for future deployment around the world that will help significantly accelerate the adoption of sustainable energy , ” the company said inan announcementin July 2017 .