Tesla recently announced its Powerpack installation in Osaka, Japan, which will be used to provide emergency backup power to trains in the area. The installation, comprised of 42 Powerpack units, is also designed to reduce energy demand on the city’s grid during peak hours.
With the energy storage units in place, trains and passengers would still be able to reach the nearest station in the event of an outage. Particularly impressive in Tesla’s recent announcement is that the hardware installation of the 42 Powerpack units was completed in just two days, an impressive feat considering the system’s size.
Tesla’s new Powerpack installation will be invaluable to Osaka’s commuting public, as their travels would not be disrupted as much when sudden power interruptions happen. Osaka’s trains are among the busiest in the country, with the transportation system being used by millions of passengers on a consistent basis (data from Japan’s Transportation Bureau estimated that in the fiscal year 2013, Osaka’s trains were transporting around 2.4 million people daily).
Tesla Energy usually takes a backseat to the company’s electric car division, but it is a business that holds a lot of potential. Legendary billionaire Ron Baron has estimated that by 2030, Tesla Energy would be worth $500 billion on its own, pushing Tesla’s total market cap to $1 trillion. The growth of Tesla Energy has been hailed by Elon Musk too, with the CEO noting during the Model Y unveiling that 2019 will be the year of the Solar Roof and Powerwall, signifying a ramp of the company’s battery storage business.
Tesla Energy has been following a steady ramp, with the company mentioning in its Q4 2018 and Full Year Update Letter that it was able to deploy 1.04 GWh of energy storage over 2018. That’s nearly triple the company’s energy storage deployments in 2017, which totaled 358 MWh.
Tesla’s industrial-grade Powerpack battery units have been used successfully by the company to support a city’s energy grid in the past. In South Australia alone, a Powerpack farm has helped start a battery storage revolution in the region. The Powerpacks have also been used by Tesla to help out in areas such as Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from the damages of Hurricane Irma back in 2017.
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