Tesla is celebrating a historic day in Texas, and it has nothing to do with its cars.
Instead, it was Tesla's Megapacks that took center stage Aug. 20, a day with record-setting demand for the solar energy stored in the batteries.
As Teslarati reports, Grid Status (@grid_status) tapped into data and charts from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to highlight the batteries' landmark day in a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Batteries sent more power to the grid in @ERCOT_ISO than ever before https://t.co/6s2mWAkyys
— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 26, 2024
Grid Status and ERCOT celebrated batteries "shattering the previous record" and noted that "battery discharge peaked 20% higher than the previous record set only the day before." Another impressive feat, according to ERCOT, is that it "deployed nearly all available capacity without experiencing reliability issues."
All in all, rechargeable batteries provide an extra level of resilience for the electrical grid, and that is already paying off during heat waves in Texas and elsewhere. In California, battery packs have been a "game-changer" during extreme weather events, according to the state agency that manages the power grid. Last summer, batteries helped prevent a blackout in Texas.
The latest news is another exciting moment for the growth of Megapacks. Recently, Tesla shared progress on a new Megafactory plant in Shanghai. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is bullish on the business, saying it is growing faster than the company's electric vehicle division.
The benefits of Megapack storage batteries are wide-ranging, including the aforementioned greater grid resiliency and less reliance on dirty energy sources. Megapacks also ease the transition to clean energy and are powering large-scale projects all the way from California to Australia.
Consumers and businesses can tap into the technology on a smaller scale with Tesla's Powerwall batteries, which can especially maximize the gains for customers who install solar panels.
Users on X and Teslarati reacted with excitement to Tesla's feat.
"Great, and going to come in very handy during outages of power plants," one tweeted.
A commenter on Teslarati suggested "states and utilities will have to find ways to integrate this, it just makes too much sense....dollars and cents too!"
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