Tesla working on "Mega Battery" facility near Houston (houses, prices)

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Highlights from the article:

"If the Texas power crisis taught us anything, it’s that the state has some serious infrastructure issues that not even the state’s regulators are prepared to fix. Thankfully, everyone’s favorite high-profile Twitter troll, Elon Musk, might have a plan: a giant battery ready to plug more than 16,000 homes’ worth of power into the state’s electric grid."

"The battery in question is reportedly built to hold about 100 megawatts of power. To offer some perspective here, the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that a single megawatt would be enough to power about 164 homes across the country—meaning that the Gambit project could hypothetically power about 16,400 homes. That might not be enough to cover the close to 3 million households that lost power during last month’s cold snap, but it’s still a significant number of houses with a significant number of people who wouldn’t be left with icicles dripping from their ceilings or stuck facing life-threatening temperatures without water the next time a bitter cold spell hits the state.

Before Tesla took it over, the Gambit project was initially run by a non-Tesla entity, Plus Power LLC. Some of the initial pitch documents that Plus Power filed with the state say that the battery center would charge with electricity offered from a connection to a nearby 138kV substation, and discharge electricity onto the grid through that same connection. Per that pitch, the battery would charge from this grid when energy prices are low—i.e., during peak wind and solar production—and then discharge when there’s an energy shortage."

https://earther.gizmodo.com/elon-mus...o-t-1846429463

Thoughts?

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Highlights from the article:

"If the Texas power crisis taught us anything, it’s that the state has some serious infrastructure issues that not even the state’s regulators are prepared to fix. Thankfully, everyone’s favorite high-profile Twitter troll, Elon Musk, might have a plan: a giant battery ready to plug more than 16,000 homes’ worth of power into the state’s electric grid."

"The battery in question is reportedly built to hold about 100 megawatts of power. To offer some perspective here, the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that a single megawatt would be enough to power about 164 homes across the country—meaning that the Gambit project could hypothetically power about 16,400 homes. That might not be enough to cover the close to 3 million households that lost power during last month’s cold snap, but it’s still a significant number of houses with a significant number of people who wouldn’t be left with icicles dripping from their ceilings or stuck facing life-threatening temperatures without water the next time a bitter cold spell hits the state.

Before Tesla took it over, the Gambit project was initially run by a non-Tesla entity, Plus Power LLC. Some of the initial pitch documents that Plus Power filed with the state say that the battery center would charge with electricity offered from a connection to a nearby 138kV substation, and discharge electricity onto the grid through that same connection. Per that pitch, the battery would charge from this grid when energy prices are low—i.e., during peak wind and solar production—and then discharge when there’s an energy shortage."

https://earther.gizmodo.com/elon-mus...o-t-1846429463

Thoughts?

With 1.6 million homes in the Greater Houston area we will need about 99 more of these to fully back up the Metro grid. But this is a start and it's good to see

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

With 1.6 million homes in the Greater Houston area we will need about 99 more of these to fully back up the Metro grid. But this is a start and it's good to see

2 things.

First, yes as you said. A start is a start. It's going to take many many years to develop the infrastructure to get the entire nation powered with green energy let alone Texas. But you have to get it going if we all want to reach a low carbon future.

But more importantly, that's not the highlight of this project. Supposively, this is parts of developing a new technology which will power houses more sustainably in general. Supposing this battery deems success, this would pave the way to expand on it in the future. Hence why they place it so far out in a rural area.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Mega battery, what could go wrong?! Seriously, that is one huge bomb! But I am sure they *will* have it under control.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

Mega battery, what could go wrong?! Seriously, that is one huge bomb! But I am sure they *will* have it under control.

good thing there aren't any other massive energy related campuses that pose an explosive hazard if not under control... oh wait

[Exult.Q36]

Seems like an odd place for that to be. It would make more sense if it was more inland to protect it from flooding.

[LonghornHotspur]

Commercial scale batteries have the potential to change power grid ops; you now have a responsive resource that can provide 'generation' when renewables aren't feasible. Its a true peak shaving option.

The industry thinks this is Elon hype and its not ready for deployment at scale; we'll see but the potential here is massive.

[futuregleam]

I wonder if they picked that place in anticipation of offshore wind energy.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

Mega battery, what could go wrong?! Seriously, that is one huge bomb! But I am sure they *will* have it under control.

Same thing can be said about having gas stations every 1/2 mile throughout the city

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Same thing can be said about having gas stations every 1/2 mile throughout the city

Not really. The instances of gas stations blowing up are so low as to be non-existent. I would be surprised if battery stations had any issues either. Car batteries are more likely to explode than the grid batteries.