World's largest lithium ion battery goes on-grid in Australia

The battery is connected to a Hornsdale Wind Farm, run by French company Neoen in a location near to Jamestown, which is about 125 miles north of Adelaide. It will store surplus energy the wind farm creates at times of low demand so that it can be fed into the grid at times of high demand. When fully charged, the giant battery can power up to 30,000 homes for an hour.

The battery was built by Tesla in around 60 days, after Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes challenged Elon Musk via Twitter to tackle the energy problems faced by South Australia. Musk accepted the challenge and said that if Tesla couldn't build the battery within 100 days from signing the contract, it would be delivered for free.

This is a great example of how battery storage, coupled with renewable energy sources can meet the challenge of providing reliable energy supplies without contributing to climate change.

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