Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk on Thursday said that the limiting factor for the shift to renewable energy in California and Texas is the lack of energy storage.
What Happened: “Due to the obviously intermittent nature of wind and solar power, the limiting factor for renewable energy growth is increasingly stationary battery packs at utility scale,” Musk wrote in response to fintech company Stripe‘s CEO Patrick Collison. Collison noted that California’s grid reaches 85% renewable energy even in winter and spends over 50% of it every day.
“Indeed, many parts of the world are reaching high peak levels of renewable energy production!” Musk said.
Why It Matters: Tesla’s Megapack — a battery product for utility-scale projects — offers massive energy storage as per the company. Each megapack unit can store over 3 MWh of energy enough to power an average of 3600 homes for an hour, Tesla claims.
The company touts the megapack as a sustainable alternative to natural gas Peaker power plants which fires up when the local utility grid can’t provide enough to meet demand. “Instead, a Megapack installation can use stored excess solar or wind energy to support the grid's peak loads,” Tesla says.
Tesla’s megapacks are currently deployed in different places in California and Texas including at the Gambit energy storage park in Angleton, and at a PG&E energy storage facility in Monterey, among others.
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Read More: Around The World In 80 Days, Electric Edition: Tesla Roadster Driver Aims For Setting A New Record
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