Tesla has stepped up the pace of its utility-scale battery projects, and its Megapack installations in 2022 will help power utilities shut down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants.
In 2019, Tesla introduced the Megapack, a battery the size of a shipping container designed to kill coal- and gas-fired “peaker” power plants.
Peaker plants sit idle for most of the day, but fire up to provide extra energy whenever demand for electricity spikes and the power grid can’t keep up. Tesla pitched Megapack batteries as a more climate-friendly alternative to peaker plants because they can store renewable energy when electricity demand is low, and then pump power back onto the grid when demand peaks.
Over the past year, Tesla has stepped up the pace of its big battery projects—and the Megapack is starting to live up to its peaker-plant-killing promise.
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