Apple to buy more than $ 50 million in batteries from Tesla for new energy storage project



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Apple has announced a massive new energy storage project in California and we have learned that Tesla will supply its Megapack battery systems for the project.

In a press release yesterday, Apple announced the construction of a massive new 240 MWh energy storage project at its northern California solar farm:

“Apple is building one of the country’s largest battery projects, California Flats – an industry-leading grid-scale energy storage project capable of storing 240 megawatt hours of energy, enough to power over 7,000 households for a day. This project supports the company’s 130-megawatt solar farm, which supplies all of its renewable energy to California, by storing excess energy produced during the day and deploying it when it’s needed most.

It would indeed become one of the largest battery projects in the country and in the world.

For comparison, Tesla’s famous “Big Battery” in South Australia has an energy storage capacity of 193.5 MWh.

What Apple did not reveal in the announcement is that Tesla is involved in the project.

The edge found documents submitted to the Monterey County Supervisory Board for the project that reveal it will use 85 Tesla megapacks:

“The proposed amendment would allow up to 60 megawatts (‘MW’) and 240 megawatt hours (‘MWH’) of electrical energy produced by the CFS project to be stored on site during periods of low demand and then distributed during peaks. of request. periods. The proposed modification would involve the construction and installation of the BESS which includes up to 85 Tesla Megapack battery units. Each group of four Megapack battery units would be installed on an approximately 75 feet (“ft.”) By 12 feet. by a concrete slab 2 feet thick. Additional upgrades include facility upgrades at the existing North Substation of the existing CFS project to enable additional energy conversion from BESS, a transmission line (above or below ground) to the existing CFS substation, a real-time monitoring and control, various security measures. features, drainage improvements, site fencing, as well as a proposed new entrance from Turkey Flats Road. “

Megapack is Tesla’s large-scale energy storage product used for utility projects. It consists of container-sized batteries with power electronics, all in one package.

Given that Tesla is expected to charge between $ 200 and $ 300 per kWh for megapacks, this is an important project between the two companies, as Apple will likely pay Tesla more than $ 50 million for batteries.

There is a kind of rivalry between the two Californian companies, especially when it comes to talent.

Over the years, they have poached a significant number of engineers and executives – most recently mainly Tesla’s Apple for the first autonomous electric vehicle project.

But on the energy side, Apple needs Tesla’s help now to meet its goal of becoming carbon neutral for its supply chain and products by 2030.

A large part of achieving this goal is to run all of its operations on renewable energy. Apple is working on this by investing in solar and wind power, but these renewable energy sources need to be balanced with energy storage because they are intermittent.

Like many other electric companies and utilities, Apple has turned to Tesla’s energy storage solutions, which are booming lately.

Last quarter, Tesla deployed a record 1,584 MWh of energy storage – an increase of nearly 200% year-over-year and 100% quarter-over-quarter.

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