Do you like to argue as much as Elon Musk likes to do it? A young billionaire engineer made a $ 63 million bet with Australian billionaire and Atlassian director Mike Cannon-Brooks.
The essence of the dispute. Tesla, led by its chief executive Elon Musk, has to build a 100-megawatt uninterruptible power supply for South Australian residents in 100 days. Pretty bold, isn't it?
Who is this "impudent" debater? Elon Musk was born in 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa into the most ordinary family of an engineer. At the age of 12, he developed a video game and sold it for $ 500. He is directly involved in the creation of PayPal, SolarCity, SpaceX and Tesla Motors. He is also engaged in the design of spaceships. He is a person full of energy and innovative ideas.
In South Australia, there are difficulties in the field of energy: some areas are dependent on weather conditions, as the country has widespread wind turbines and solar panels. On days when there is no sun and wind, energy is delivered from FCAS gas generators and the price of electricity increases significantly (by about 80%).
Elon decided to help Australia and proposed a lucrative project called Hornsdale Power Reserve: from Tesla Powerpack blocks (one block is a set of 16 batteries, a converter and controller) to build a 100-megawatt battery. Such a giant battery can provide electricity for about thirty thousand homes for an hour.
The project received government approval and in 2017 work began in the Jamestown area, just north of the administrative center. It was in this place that a superbattery was installed, connected to a highly efficient wind turbine of the French company Neoen.
The task of an uninterruptible power supply: to accumulate energy when it is "poured" into the network in excess and to provide support for the sources of electricity used. The unit responds instantly to network outages, with a total of 476 Powerpack units involved. As you know, in the very first time after the completion of the work, the miracle battery saved the country about $ 30 million.
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To create the battery, the engineers used technology proven in Tesla's eco-friendly electric vehicles. Batteries used in energy storage have similar structural elements to lithium-ion batteries in cars.
Tesla has many years of experience in the development of batteries and batteries for cars, which helped them significantly in the creation of superbatteries. The company completed construction in 60 days and thus not only won the dispute, but also earned an impressive reputation.
Fun fact or trick, you can call it whatever you like.
Terms of dispute: 100 days from the date of signing the contract. Elon Musk at his own expense, risking his money (suddenly the contract is not signed) began work on the construction of a superbattery even before the official agreement. Thus, at the time of signing the contract, half of the project was completed.
Tesla Powerpack Blocks.
Tesla is involved in many projects to solve the issue of storing electricity and ensuring its stable supply. Elon Musk's UPS are installed in many parts of the world:
- Puerto Rico. A large batch of energy storage facilities was delivered after hurricane Maria hit the country, which completely destroyed the entire energy system.
- California.
- New Zealand.
- Great Britain.
- Hawaii.
- Elite hotels located on the islands.
Many energy market participants have taken up energy storage projects and are building them all over the world. Tesla is facing a serious battle with competitors.