Tesla’s batteries helped stabilize the power grid during the solar eclipse

Tesla says its storage batteries helped keep the US grid stable during Monday’s solar eclipse. But there is still a lot of work to be done before renewable energy can achieve the same performance as fossil energy.

Tesla’s megapacks provided electricity to the national grid during the solar eclipse. This was important because solar panels could not produce power during a solar eclipse. Tesla Megapack shared an event on X graph showing the energy mix of ERCOT, the Texas grid operator. It shows that the batteries supplied more than 1 gigawatt to the grid during the peak of the eclipse.

But what’s most striking about the graph is that natural gas still played the biggest role. During the eclipse, more than 10 gigawatts of power from the solar panels were lost. Much of this was temporarily replaced by natural gas, showing that battery storage still has room to grow.

What is the Tesla Megapack?

Megapacks are large capacity rechargeable batteries intended for energy storage. One Megapack can store 3.9 megawatt hours of energy, which is enough to power 3,600 homes for one hour, according to Tesla.

Tesla say that it has already installed a total of more than 10 gigawatt hours of Megapacks worldwide.

Next time

According to CEO Elon Musk, battery storage is the future. At the beginning of this month, the businessman said on X that he thinks Tesla can “do more Joule in stationary than in mobile” in the long run. By that he means that the company could one day offer more battery storage capacity than the capacity of a car battery.

Tesla sold more than 4 gigawatt hours of energy storage products in the first quarter of 2024. In addition to Megapacks, it also sells a home battery, the Tesla Powerwall.

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