The Week
On Friday, the state of South Australia plugged in a 100-megawatt lithium ion battery the size of a football field, attaching it to its shaky power grid in a massive bet on renewable energy against a national government that is promoting coal and natural gas. Tesla’s Elon Musk had proposed the battery, promising first on Twitter and then to South Australia’s premier Jay Weatherill that “Tesla will get the system installed and working 100 days from contract signature or it is free.” Musk and French partner Neoen — a renewable energy company that runs a wind farm near the battery — delivered it within about 60 days of announcing the contract.
Weatherill, with the Labor Party, touted the battery as an integral part of his $420 million plan to take his state off the national power grid.
