Tesla’s energy business is focused in part on solar power generation, but a big component of the business hopes to use its Powerpack commercial storage batteries in tandem with renewable power generation to store energy until it’s needed. A new proposal, reports Bloomberg, by energy supplier Deepwater Wind would use Tesla’s batteries in a new offshore wind plant near Massachusetts for exactly that purpose.
The plan, which is one of the bids submitted to a request for proposals to supply power to the state of Massachusetts, would see a production facility with 144-megawatt capability build off the coast. The batteries from Tesla would then store the wind-generated energy at peak production times, and hold it in reserve for peak demand hours. It’s exactly how other Tesla Powerpack facilities function, including its Kauai energy storage installation, which opened earlier this year.
The proposed plan includes a 40-megawatt storage capacity, which is less than either 52 MWh facility on Kauai, or the planned 100 KWh set for construction in Australia. But the unique offshore installation would add yet another example of how Tesla’s battery storage can supplement a range of power generation methods, which would help with its larger goal of demonstrating how it can be applied to a wide variety of requirements.
Deepwater will still have to compete with other bids, but it’s already built the first ever U.S. offshore wind farm near Rhode Island.