Tesla has completed a massive, 55,000-panel solar farm on the Hawaiian island of Kauai  that will allow them to experiment with medium-term energy storage at a utility scale. Hooked up to the farm are 272 of the company?s lithium Powerpacks, which are capable of storing of combined 52 megawatt-hours of power.

via Tesla

Tesla has completed a massive, 55,000-panel solar farm on the Hawaiian island of Kauai  that will allow them to experiment with medium-term energy storage at a utility scale. Hooked up to the farm are 272 of the company?s lithium Powerpacks, which are capable of storing of combined 52 megawatt-hours of power.

The project is the largest of its kind installed by Tesla since its $2 billion acquisition of panel installer SolarCity Corp last November, and its location in Hawaii is not a coincidence; the state has the highest electric rates in the United States, and has set goals of eliminating all non-renewable power sources by 2045.The Tesla facility is estimated to cut the Kauai?s diesel and petroleum consumption by about 1.6 million gallons per year. As a result, approximately 44 percent of the island?s energy will now come from renewable sources. The Powerpack system will also be the first solar operation to reliably supply power 24/7.
via Tesla

The system is similar to an even larger, 396-battery storage system installed by the company in Southern California this January. Tesla founder Elon Musk has...