Tesla’s Megapacks arrived in the state with the last coal shipment from Hawaii. The state’s grid is shifting to renewable energy sources supported by battery-backed energy storage such as Megapacks. Hawaii’s goal is reportedly to be 100 percent green by 2045, and the state already has the highest per capita solar deployment capacity.
Since the sun doesn’t always shine on Hawaii, in order to handle all that renewable energy, the state needs to balance it with energy storage capacity.
For years, in fact, Tesla has been deploying batteries in Hawaii to help make that happen. The company is working with Hawaiian Electric on a giant new battery system and a virtual power plant using Powerwalls.
Earlier this year, Tesla was working on a Megapacks energy storage project that will replace one of the only remaining coal plants in Hawaii.
Today, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reported that some Megapacks for the project were delivered at the same time Hawaii received its last shipment of coal.
The port where the coal is shipped is right next to the Kapolei Energy Storage Plant (KES).
As you can see in the pictures shared by Elon Musk, more recently delivered Megapacks are sitting there waiting to be installed.
Once completed, KES will be one of the largest battery systems in the world, with a capacity of 185 MW/565 MWh. It’s a partnership with Plus Power and Hawaiian Electric – the former decided to use Tesla Megapacks to power the system. In total, 158 Megapacks are expected to be deployed.
