The largest power storage facility on earth is solar-powered and located in southern California

It can power over 2,500 homes for a whole day or 15,000 homes for 4 hours

It can power over 2,500 homes for a whole day or 15,000 homes for 4 hours

Tesla, the energy company behind the Solar Roof, has recently provided a battery boost to the Californian power grid. Since the end of last year (and officially since 30th January 2017), 396 refrigerator-sized power packs store energy throughout the day and feed it back into the system during the peak hours. It is the largest solar powered lithium-ion battery storage facility on earth, located at Southern California Edison’s Mira Loma substation in Ontario.

“I had relatively limited expectations for the battery industry in advance of 2020,” said Michael J. Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “I thought that it would not really accelerate and begin to penetrate the electric grid or the transportation world for a while to come. Once again, technology is clearly moving faster than we can regulate.” 

The installation can provide power to over 2,500 homes for a whole day or roughly 15,000 homes for four hours, generating 80 MWh of electricity with a peak output of 20 MW. And although battery storage is still costly, it is comparable to that of the ‘peaker plants’, expensive to maintain natural gas plants that run only when electricity is in high demand. So, this storage facility will help reduce electric shortages while reducing the need for “peakers”.

Source: PV buzz