Tesla Megapack Unveiled

The interwebs were abuzz yesterday with news Tesla Powerpack now has a (much bigger) brother – the Megapack.

Tesla says each Megapack will boast up to 3 megawatt-hours (MWh) of storage and 1.5 MW of inverter capacity. It’s a big step up from the Powerpack, which offers 50kW power and 210 kWh storage per Powerpack unit.

The Megapack is pretty much a plug-and-play affair, arriving preassembled in a container including battery modules, bi-directional inverters, a thermal management system, an AC main breaker and controls. Tesla claims the Megapack requires 40% less space and “10x fewer parts” than other large-scale energy storage systems currently available.

“As a result, this high-density, modular system can be installed 10x faster than current systems,” says the company.

Tesla states Megapack can also be DC-connected directly to a solar energy facility.

While big news for the company, Elon Musk’s tweet about Megapack was very subdued, simply stating:

“Tesla Megapack now available for utility-scale energy storage.”

Megapack will be used for U.S utility PG&E’s Moss Landing substation project in California, which will feature a 182.5 MW energy storage system. As to when we’ll get to see Megapack in action there, this PG&E document from last year indicates the required commercial operational date is December 31, 2020; so perhaps other large-scale Megapack-based projects will be completed prior.

The smaller Powerpack has already proven its worth in here Australia. In its first year of operations, the Tesla “Big Battery (aka Hornsdale Power Reserve) made money and lowered the cost of electricity – and has continued to do so since.

2GWh Of Tesla Energy Storage Capacity Installed

According to Tesla, the company has installed more than 1 GWh of storage capacity in the past year with its current storage lineup, Powerwall and Powerpack. This brings its total global installed storage capacity to more than 2 GWh, and the company expects this figure to “accelerate exponentially” in the coming years with the addition of Megapack.

Tesla’s Second Quarter 2019 Update states Powerwall and Powerpack deployment grew by 81% in the second quarter to a record 415 MWh.

“Powerwalls are now installed at more than 50,000 sites. Additional cell supply combined with our new module line designed by Tesla Grohmann enabled a step change in energy storage production,” stated the firm.

Not so flash was its solar retrofit deployments, which Tesla said declined sequentially to 29 MW(h?) and overall, the company is continuing to bleed money.

On a related note, Tesla recently dropped the price of Powerwall 2 for Australian customers. While a significant drop, it was less than a quarter of the cost it whacked on to Powerwall in Australia in October last year.