PV and storage systems: Kauai isle made 100% sustainable by Tesla

by Cristiano Ghidotti from GreenStyle

The vision of Elon Musk goes far beyond the commercialization of electric cars. In the future of Tesla there is clean energy from renewable sources, particularly solar power. It is no coincidence that the group has recently acquired SolarCity, a company specialized in the production of panels for residential buildings. The latest demonstration comes from an initiative at the island of Kauai, the oldest of Hawaii.

Tesla has chosen the Pacific isles to install 54 978 solar panels capable of generating 13 MW of power and 272 Powerpack for a storage capacity equal to 52 MWh. In this way, the inhabitants (little more than 67,000 in total) will be able to exploit the system to power homes, equipment and vehicles also during night hours, when for obvious reasons, the PV is less effective.

Until today the Island of Kauai had overcome the lack of piping for the transport of traditional fuels to power the generators through shipping. The expected savings in economic and environmental terms is estimated at approximately 1.6 million gallons annually.
The project was put in place by Tesla in collaboration with Kauai Island Utility Cooperative, a company that deals with the electricity supply in the area. This company, instead of buying the plant, has signed a twenty-year contract to buy and distribute the energy produced, with a price set at $ 0.139/kWh.
Shifting the attention on the solution adopted for the storage, from a technical point of view each Powerpack unit consists of 16 Powerwall batteries installed in a waterproof box.
Now Elon Musk points to South Australia: the entrepreneur claims to be able to solve problems related to the distribution of electricity in 100 days, promising to give away the entire 100 MW infrastructure in case of failure to reach the target on time .

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