Real estate developer The Irvine Company announced its plans to create hybrid-electric office buildings that are powered by Tesla's batteries in California.
Making Tesla's batteries no longer exclusive for charging up its electric cars, the real estate company is teaming up with tech startup Advanced Microgrid Solutions to build battery farms the size of five parking spaces at 24 office building in Irvine, Calif.
The Tesla battery units will generate power for the buildings during peak daytime use—like on a hot day when all the air conditioners are running—or in the case when the buildings suffer from a power outage. Using the batteries will free up the energy grid by 25 percent when demand is high.
"As a long-term owner, the Irvine Company takes great pride in being on the cutting edge of building design, sustainability and energy efficiency," Irvine Company's VP of Energy Management Rich Bluth said in a press release. "Energy storage is a game-changer. It will allow building owners to participate in grid support and reduce costs while causing no disruption or discomfort to our customers, residents or guests."
The battery systems will be charged during nonpeak hours and will give local utility company Southern California Edison up to 10 megawatts of reserve power, which is enough energy to power 10,000 homes. The units will automatically provide power to the buildings when Southern California's Edison's signal reveals that the demand on the grid is high.
The first Tesla 100kwh Powerpack module battery unit is expected to be installed in Irvine by the end of the year. AMS and renewable energy company SunEdison will finance, install and operate Powerpack battery systems from Tesla Energy.
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