Dive Brief:
- Tesla has notched a battery project with BP Wind Energy, announcing it will install a 212 kW battery at the oil giant's Titan 1 wind farm in South Dakota.
- For BP, the project is part of the company's plan to invest $500 million annually on clean energy technology.
- While it is BP's first foray into battery storage, Tesla has been on a roll of late. The company will install batteries for virtual power plants (VPPs) in Australia, Vermont and New Hampshire, and it recently received praise for the operation of a 100 MW battery project.
Dive Insight:
Tesla has been the go-to battery developer in a string of projects recently, though one is relatively small by comparison of its previous efforts. But for BP, this is its first stab at energy storage as the company operates more than 2 GW of wind capacity in the United States.
The battery installation at Titan will be a 212 kW / 840 kWh, which Electrek.co estimates to be roughly four of the company's Powerpacks. The project is expected online later this year.
Tesla has rolled out a series of projects, some of them acting as VPPs that aggregate residential batteries. Last year, the company made headlines when it installed a 100 MW battery in South Australia, and a recent report from the Australian Energy Market Operator concluded the project "can provide a range of valuable power system services, including rapid, accurate frequency response and control."
In Lebanon, N.H., Liberty Utilities wants to install 300 Tesla Powerwall batteries to develop a VPP. In Vermont of last year, Tesla and Green Mountain Power partnered to offer backup battery power to residential customers for just $15 per month.
