Tesla Energy, the automaker’s energy division, has secured yet another large Megapack project. This time, it will help balance Belgium’s electricity grid.
Back in 2019, Tesla launched the Megapack; it was Tesla’s third stationary energy storage product after the Powerwall and Powerpack.
A single Megapack unit is a container-sized “3 MWh battery system” with integrated modules, inverters, and thermal systems. With the bigger size and integrated power electronics, Tesla claims that the Megapack is 60% more energy-dense than its Powerpack. It also comes on-site, ready to install, and can ship in containers.
Last year, Tesla updated the Megapack with more capacity, 3.9 MWh, and made it a bit bigger. The energy storage system has quickly become the most popular battery pack for large-scale energy storage projects.
Despite a significant ramp-up in production capacity over the last year, the lead time on new Megapack orders shows that it is basically sold out for the next two years.
It has become the go-to product for electric utilities looking to help balance their grid and use renewable energy better.
Just last week, we reported on Tesla Megapack being chosen for a new giant $500 million energy storage project.
Now Tesla’s battery system has been chosen for another large 200 MWh energy storage system for Eneco in Belgium:
The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) consists of 53 Megapacks energy storage units from Tesla, for a total of 50 MW/200 MWh of storage. It can supply power to the grid for 4 hours. A growing number of wind turbines and solar panels are taking over much of the power production from existing fossil fuel power plants. However, there is not always electricity from wind and solar, the demand is only partly controllable and therefore it is important to have flexible storage. This makes it possible to offer (spare) capacity when needed to keep the power grid in balance. In cooperation with Belgian high-voltage grid operator Elia, the battery ensures that the ever-increasing volumes of variable solar and wind energy can be deployed in an efficient way and keeps grid power in balance.
Eneco has been deploying a lot of solar and wind power in Belgium, and now this large Megapack system is going to make these renewable resources more valuable.