- 37 of Tesla's Megapacks have been deployed in the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska.
- The project is a sustainable alternative to the gas turbines that have long powered the region.
- The Megapacks are the clean energy giant's latest and biggest energy storage product.
In the pristine Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, a new project by Tesla is bringing a more sustainable alternative to the gas turbines that power the region four months out of the year.
Electrek reported that 37 of Tesla's Megapacks, the company's latest and biggest energy storage product, have now been deployed. The project was first announced in 2019 by Homer Electric, an electric utility cooperative based in Alaska that worked in collaboration with Tesla.
Homer Electric views it as a more sustainable substitute for the gas turbines the community had long used, in addition to helping it stave off future power outages. The cooperative faced two major outages in the last few months, a particular concern when temperatures in the peninsula can dip to lower than -30°C.
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Homer Electric is also hoping the project paves way for more renewable energy initiatives, saying the Megapack installation "provides a great side benefit of opening the door to renewable intermittent energy projects that would have otherwise stretched current thermal generation assets," Electrek reported.
Tesla echoes that sentiment.
"To reduce the community's reliance on fossil fuels to power the turbines, Homer Electric installed 37 Tesla Megapacks, providing grid stability even in freezing temperatures," Tesla wrote on its website.
Neither Homer Electric or Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside their working hours.
The Megapack has the storage capacity of 3 MWh and an inverter of 1.5 MW, surpassing other electric utility products, including its own such as the Powerpack and Powerwall.
According to Tesla's website, it can also be installed 10 times faster than other systems on the market.
Similar Tesla projects have been installed in California, Hawaii, Australia, and American Samoa, which have also used Tesla batteries to better increase the performance of their energy grids, while also reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.
Among the biggest of these has been the Australian one, which holds a 129 MWh Powerpack system that Tesla said was the world's largest lithium-ion battery.