5 Businesses in the US Benefiting From Tesla’s Powerpacks

Technology aficionados will be well aware of how Elon Musk’s Tesla company is changing the game. Not only are these cars capable of driving by using electricity, but the company has also made some progress in terms of batteries capable of storing renewable energy sources. Below are some of the use cases for Tesla’s massive renewable energy batteries.

5. La Crema Winery

As one would somewhat expect, small businesses stand to gain a lot by using a battery to store electricity generated from solar power. La Crema, a winery in California, uses a 1,200 kWh Powerpack system to supply electricity needed for their day to day operations. Not only does this bring operational costs down by quite a margin, but it also is another example of how solar energy can be used in an efficient manner.

This system is quite costly, as according to Tesla a 1,200 kWh system that delivers 200 kWh of power over the course of 6 hours would cost roughly $500,000.

4. Marin Community College

It is rather interesting to think about the possibilities of using a large-scale solar energy battery. In Marin, California, the College of Marin is using a 3,200 kWh Tesla Powerpack to power most of their electricity needs. This translates to saving between US$100,000 and US$150,000 annually in electricity costs alone. It is evident such an expensive investment will pay for itself rather quickly. It is only a matter of time until other colleges follow their lead, by the look of things.

The cost for such a system would revolve around $1.4 million. Considering a 3,200 kWh system delivering 550 kWh over the course of 6 hours.

3. Sierra Nevada Brewing Company

Major brewing companies own craft breweries all across the United States. In the case of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, one of their craft breweries in California is powered by a battery capable of storing a lot of power generated by its 10,571 solar panels. While this only offsets about one-fifth of all electricity costs, it is still a worthwhile investment. A 500-kilowatt Powerpack is quite significant, although it is not unlikely this brewery will increase that capacity in the future. This solar pack would cost in the range of $100,000 which isn’t much compared to what’s out there.

2. The Island of Kaua’i

Hawaii is a very beautiful place consisting of many different smaller islands. With plenty of sunshine every day, it makes a lot of sense to look into solar energy solutions. The entire island of Kaua’i is powered by 54,000 solar panels and Tesla Powerpack batteries. With a solar generation capacity of roughly 13 megawatts, it takes over 270 Tesla batteries to store all of this energy. This still only accounts for 20% of the island’s peak load, but it is quite a big step in the right direction. According to Tesla’s price estimator, a 13 megawatts system would cost upwards of $6 million. Not a cheap investment by any means.

1. Singita Lodge

Luxury resorts are starting to take a closer look at what renewable energy sources can do for their business. Singita Lodge, located in South Africa, has several thousand of solar panels to feed the 3,150 kilowatt-hours battery system. Even though these solar energy efforts have not reduced the prices of these luxurious accommodations just yet, it is good to see these types of businesses looking into renewable energy sources as well. Such a system would be comparable to the one ran in Marin Community College, and cost roughly $1.4 million.

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