Musk to build world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Australia

Sydney: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday promised to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy in Australia within 100 days or provide it for free. The Tesla boss said he would construct a 129-megawatt battery to store energy generated by French utility group Neoen’s Hornsdale wind farm, which is currently under construction, as part of a project to shore up the electricity network in the state of South Australia. Speaking in Adelaide alongside the state’s leader, Premier JayWeatherill, Musk told reporters the project was “not a minor foray into the frontier.” “There is certainly some risk, because this will be largest battery installation in the world by a significant margin... the next biggest battery in the world is 30 megawatts,” Musk said. The 129-megawatt-hour battery, to be installed by the end of the year, will be large enough to power 30,000 houses and could provide emergency back-up power if an energy shortfall is predicted. — dpa