Report: Tesla is secretly building a giant 100 MW battery in Texas

[thackney]

Report: Tesla is secretly building a giant 100 MW battery in Texas
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/03/report-tesla-is-secretly-building-a-giant-100-mw-battery-in-texas/
3/8/2021

...Bloomberg reports that Tesla is currently building a battery installation in Tesla CEO Elon Musk's new home state of Texas. The project is in Angleton, about an hour south of Houston.

Tesla hasn't publicized the project, which is operating under the name of an obscure Tesla subsidiary called Gambit Energy Storage LLC. When a Bloomberg photographer visited, a worker discouraged picture-taking and said the project was "secretive." The project appears to consist of 20 large banks of batteries that have been covered by white sheets.

A document on the city of Angleton's website provides some details about the project. It's listed as being a project of Plus Power but includes a photo of a Tesla battery cabinet. Plus Power counts two former Tesla employees among its executives. Plus confirmed to Bloomberg that it had started the project, then sold it to an undisclosed party.

The installation will use lithium iron phosphate batteries that are expected to last 10 to 20 years. The document says that it will generate around $1 million in property tax revenue for the city of Angleton. The site will be unmanned but will be remotely monitored at all times, according to the document....

[thackney]

PROJECT SUMMARY & MAP
http://angleton.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/3793/Gambit-Energy-Storage-Park-FAQ

[Joe Wooten]

100 MW is not even a drop in the bucket as compared to the average generation in Texas. Probably not even a drop when compared to the Houston area usage.

[thackney]

100 MW is not even a drop in the bucket as compared to the average generation in Texas. Probably not even a drop when compared to the Houston area usage.

100 MW is approximately the load for the single facility where I work, just outside of Houston.

[Idiot]

100 MW is approximately the load for the single facility where I work, just outside of Houston.

It will produce 100 MW total or for what period of time?  Hours....days?

[thackney]

It will produce 100 MW total or for what period of time?  Hours....days?

I could not find the data for this particular installation, but not days.  These are built to make money buying power at the cheap time (night) and selling in the expensive afternoon/evening peak.  Maybe 4 hours at max output but probably less.

[Joe Wooten]

So, the touted battery bank can supply ~0.14% of the ERCOT peak load.