Apple to use 85 Tesla 'Megapack' batteries in California energy project

Apple will use an array of Tesla "Megapack" batteries for a grid-scale energy storage project at its solar farm in California, according to a report on Wednesday.

Announced today, Apple's program is designed to store some 240 megawatt-hours of energy — enough to power more than 7,000 homes for a day — at the company's 130-megawatt California Flats solar farm. The project is being hailed by the tech giant as one of the largest battery projects in the country.

According to documents filed with the Monterey County Board of Supervisors in 2020, and unearthed by The Verge, Apple plans to use 85 Tesla lithium-ion Megapacks as part of the initiative. Some of the energy stored in the batteries will reportedly be used to power Apple Park in Cupertino.

Unveiled in 2019, the Megapack is designed for installation at emissions-free power plants and acts as an alternative to so-called "peaker plants," or plants that serve as backups for local utility grids. The batteries come fully assembled with up to 3 megawatt-hours (MWhs) of storage and 1.5 MW of inverter capacity, Tesla says.

As noted by The Verge, Apple's 60MW installation is not the biggest Tesla has seen. Megapack setups of about 100MW were previously installed in Australia and Houston, Texas.

Though Apple and Tesla operate in largely different market sectors, the former's ambitions in the electric vehicle industry has caused friction in recent years. Poaching between the two companies accelerated in about 2015, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk infamously calling Apple the "Tesla graveyard." Musk in December said that he reached out to Apple CEO Tim Cook during the "darkest days of the Model 3 program" to discuss a potential buyout but was refused a meeting.

18 Comments

cg27 18 Years · 223 comments

About 3 years ago

Courting, how beautiful.

byronl 4 Years · 377 comments

as they should

rcfa 17 Years · 1123 comments

Disgusting greenwashing effort! Environmentally sound and sustainable energy production is more than just measuring CO2 output.

These batteries are responsible for the destruction of a unique and sensitive ecosystem, destroying the livelihoods of indigenous people, and are hugely resource intensive for the energy they provide.

Solar panels by themselves have a single digit EROI, by the time batteries and charging/discharging losses are factored in, it looks even worse.

If Apple weren’t concerned with catering to the brainwashed “woke”, but would run the actual numbers, they would pursue nuclear power like Gates, and listen to people like Shellenberger…

https://youtu.be/ciStnd9Y2ak

GeorgeBMac 8 Years · 11421 comments

rcfa said:

Disgusting greenwashing effort! Environmentally sound and sustainable energy production is more than just measuring CO2 output.

These batteries are responsible for the destruction of a unique and sensitive ecosystem, destroying the livelihoods of indigenous people, and are hugely resource intensive for the energy they provide.

Solar panels by themselves have a single digit EROI, by the time batteries and charging/discharging losses are factored in, it looks even worse.

If Apple weren’t concerned with catering to the brainwashed “woke”, but would run the actual numbers, they would pursue nuclear power like Gates, and listen to people like Shellenberger…

https://youtu.be/ciStnd9Y2ak

Yes, nuclear makes sense.
Unfortunately, the technology has been undermined by human stupidity: The major failures have all been attributed to human error either in design or operation. For instance: Fukushima not only put its reactor on an ocean known for tsunamis, protected it with an inadequate sea wall, then put its controls in a basement where they could be flooded.

For nuclear to work we would have end human stupidity. I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Wgkrueger 8 Years · 352 comments

GeorgeBMac said:

rcfa said:

Disgusting greenwashing effort! Environmentally sound and sustainable energy production is more than just measuring CO2 output.

These batteries are responsible for the destruction of a unique and sensitive ecosystem, destroying the livelihoods of indigenous people, and are hugely resource intensive for the energy they provide.

Solar panels by themselves have a single digit EROI, by the time batteries and charging/discharging losses are factored in, it looks even worse.

If Apple weren’t concerned with catering to the brainwashed “woke”, but would run the actual numbers, they would pursue nuclear power like Gates, and listen to people like Shellenberger…

https://youtu.be/ciStnd9Y2ak

Yes, nuclear makes sense.
Unfortunately, the technology has been undermined by human stupidity: The major failures have all been attributed to human error either in design or operation. For instance: Fukushima not only put its reactor on an ocean known for tsunamis, protected it with an inadequate sea wall, then put its controls in a basement where they could be flooded.

For nuclear to work we would have end human stupidity. I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Human error is inescapable. Nuclear fuel requires precision handling. The two don’t mix. How big of a nuclear accident do you need to change your mind?