Tesla Megapack

Tesla Gigafactory 1, where the Megapack was designed and is manufactured.

On April 30 2015, Tesla announced that it would begin to sell standalone battery storage products to consumers and utility companies.[1] Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the company's battery storage products could be used to improve the reliability of intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.[1]

Prior to the launch of the Megapack, Tesla used its 200 kWh Powerpack energy storage product to meet the needs of utility companies with large-scale storage requirements. During 2015 and 2016, Tesla deployed a combined 300 MWh of Powerwall and Powerpack technology, including an 80 MWh deployment of Powerpacks at the Mira Loma substation in Southern California.[2] In 2017, Tesla used Powerpacks to deploy 129 MWh of battery storage at the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia.[3] At the time, this was the biggest deployment of lithium-ion grid battery storage in the world.[4]

Work began on the Megapack project at least as early as the first half of 2018.[5] The Tesla Megapack was designed at Gigafactory 1, in Nevada, USA.[5]

In July 2019, the Tesla Megapack was officially launched.[6]

The Megapack was described by Tesla as a utility-scale energy storage product, suitable for power stations and utility companies.[6] Tesla claimed that Megapacks would be compatible with Tesla power station monitoring and energy control software, Powerhub and Autobidder.[6] The company also stated that the Megapack was designed to meet the needs of large-scale battery storage projects, similar to the Hornsdale Power Reserve.[6]

Megapacks are currently manufactured at Gigafactory 1.[8] Tesla has stated that it is investing in expanding the factory in order to increase Megapack, Model 3, and Model Y output efficiency.[8]

Megapacks are sold by Tesla's worldwide network of internal sales representatives and external partners.[8] Pricing for Tesla Megapacks is not publicly available.

Each Megapack comes with a 15-year “no defect” and “energy retention” warranty, according to Tesla.[8] A 10 or 20 year "performance guarantee" is also available for an additional cost.[8] Once a Megapack has reached the end of its useful life, it is returned to Tesla to be recycled.[11]

Tesla states that it supplies Megapacks ready-assembled, including “battery modules, bi-directional inverters, a thermal management system, an AC main breaker and controls.”[12]

The Megapack thermal management system is located at the top of each unit.[11] It uses coolant fluid, made of an equal-parts mixture of ethylene glycol and water, to keep the battery at operating temperature.[11]

Maintenance must be performed on each Megapack once every five years, to perform activities such as replacing the pump that powers the thermal management system, and refilling the coolant fluid.[11] Maintenance is expected to take about an hour per Megapack.[11]

Megapacks are designed to be used for large-scale energy storage. Tesla has stated that Megapacks could be used by utility companies to replace peaker power plants,[13] which generate extra energy during periods of peak demand. Megapacks are designed to store energy that can be later used during periods of surplus demand, rather than a peaker power plant having to generate the energy in real-time using coal or natural gas. It has been shown that grid battery storage can help to reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions and unit costs of energy production.[14]

Tesla Powerpacks continue to be used by utility companies to meet smaller-scale grid energy storage requirements. For example, a 25 MW / 52 MWh deployment of Powerpacks began testing in November 2019 at the Lake Bonney Wind Farm in South Australia.[15]

Large-scale battery storage solutions such as the Tesla Megapack are becoming more economically viable for utility companies to implement due to the declining price of lithium-ion battery technology.[16] Demand for energy storage is also increasing in some jurisdictions due to transitions towards renewable energy sources.[16] Because renewable energy sources such as solar and wind are more intermittent than coal or natural gas, the energy must be stored in order to fulfil peak-period demand.[17]

Other energy storage solutions, such as pumped hydroelectric storage, continue to dominate the market. As of 2019, pumped hydroelectric storage accounted for 96% of global energy storage capacity.[18] Pumped hydroelectric storage systems have relatively long lifetimes when compared to battery storage.[18]

Battery storage solutions such as the Tesla Megapack can be used in situations where a fast deployment is required, because pumped hydro projects normally take longer to complete when compared to batteries.[19] Tesla has previously used fast deployment as a selling point of its utility-scale battery storage products.[6]

The Tehachapi Energy Storage Project.

AES Corporation, an American energy company, has been deploying utility-scale lithium-ion batteries since 2007.[29] In 2017, AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of AES, deployed 30 MW / 120 MWh of lithium-ion batteries in Escondido, California.[30] In January 2018, Fluence Energy, a joint venture of AES and Siemens, announced plans to deploy 100 MW / 400 MWh of batteries at the Alamitos Energy Center in Long Beach, California.[31][32] Construction began in June 2019, and the project is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2020.[31][32]

LG Chem, a Korean chemical company, has been producing lithium-ion batteries since 1999.[33] The company now produces batteries for both consumer and utility-scale use. In 2014, LG Chem supplied 32 MWh of lithium-ion batteries for the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project in Tehachapi, California.[34] At the date of commission, this was the largest battery energy storage facility in North America.[34] In 2017, LG Chem announced that it had more than doubled capacity at its manufacturing plant in Nanjing, China, demonstrating a renewed focus on electric vehicle battery production.[35]

BYD Company Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer of batteries, vehicles, and other battery-powered products, supplies a utility-scale lithium-iron phosphate battery storage product, known as BYD ESS.[36][37] BYD supplied batteries that were used at the 31.5 MW / 12.2 MWh Grand Ridge Battery Storage Facility in LaSalle County, Illinois.[38][39]

Greensmith Energy, an American supplier of energy storage products, deployed 20 MW / 80 MWh of lithium-ion batteries at the Altagas Pomona Substation, in Los Angeles County, California in early 2017.[40][41] Prior to completing the Pomona Substation project, Greensmith had already deployed 180 MW of grid battery storage in the USA.[42] In May 2017, Greensmith was acquired by Wärtsilä Corporation, a Finnish provider of marine and energy equipment.[43] Wärtsilä continues to advertise grid energy storage solutions under the Greensmith trading name.[44]

Toshiba, a diversified Japanese technology company, supplies utility-scale lithium-ion batteries, described by the company as "battery energy storage systems" or BESS.[45] In 2015, Toshiba deployed 40 MW / 20 MWh of batteries at the Nishi-Sendai Substation in Sendai, Japan.[39] In 2016, Toshiba deployed a further 40 MW / 40 MWh of battery storage capacity at the Minami-Soma Substation in Minamisōma, Japan.[39]

NGK Insulators, a Japanese ceramics manufacturer, supplies a utility-scale sodium-sulphur battery storage product.[46] This type of battery is known as a NaS battery, an abbreviation derived from the chemical compounds used in production - sodium (Na) and sulphur (S). In May 2008, 34 MW / 204 MWh of NGK NaS batteries were commissioned for use at a wind farm in Rokkasho, Aomori, Japan.[39] In March 2016, a further 50 MW / 300 MWh of NGK NaS batteries were commissioned at the Buzen Substation in Buzen, Japan.[39]

In comparison to lithium-ion battery technology used by the Tesla Megapack, NaS batteries can allow for cheaper energy storage.[47] The downside of NaS compared to lithium-ion batteries is the chemicals inside the battery must be kept at 350 °C at all times, which can be dangerous.[48][49] In 2011, NGK-made NaS batteries caught fire at the Mitsubishi Materials carbide manufacturing plant in Tsukuba, Japan.[50] The fire was fully extinguished two weeks later.[50] Megapacks do not come with a fire suppression system, because Tesla believes that a Megapack fire could be extinguished with water.[11]

Beginning in April 2016, Japan commenced a process of energy market deregulation,[51] at the same time as the country's consumers were demanding a transition to more renewable energy sources.[52] In February 2020, Tesla representatives attended the International Smart Grid Expo, in Tokyo, Japan, to promote the company's grid energy storage products.[53]

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