spinningmagnets said:
...... Tesla grid back up installations (*like in Australia), have been successful beyond Teslas wildest hopes.
...I believe the expansion of Tesla engineers using and experimenting with LFP is a VERY good thing.
SM... did you see the comment from Tesla in the previous post regarding Cobalt Free cell development..?
Cobalt-free does not necessarily mean lithium iron phosphate.”
Also, the Tesla “Worlds Biggest Battery”. In S Australia does not actually act as “back up” supply for the grid
Theoretically it “smoothes” the output from the Hornsdale wind farm where it it located,.. to the level of +_ 30MW, for a max of 3 hrs.....which on a grid demand of 3.0GW is not a huge input !
Its real practical use is in Grid FCAS (frequency control auxilliary services) which is now critical to control the fluctuations introduced by intermittent power supply from Wind and Solar farms.
why Tesla ( and the operators) are pleased “beyond their wildest hopes” is how much this FCAS demand has increased as more RE is added and consequently how much the price of FCAS has increased above their forecast.
Also they did not anticipate the way the battery can “Harvest” $$$’s from the electricity market by discharging at times of high pricing (>$100-$500+ $/MWh), and recharging during low price periods (<$100 $/MWh)
The battery earns its operators millions of dollas per month...all skimmed from the Australian consumers, and one reason why S Australia has one of the highest electricity prices in the world !
The battery is a business success at the expense of the local electricity consumers !
In reality , the “back up” for S Australia’s RE dominated grid supply is a pair of HVAC interconnectors to other states which continually support peak SA demands .......from coal fired power stations in Victoria !