There’s no shortage of work for Tesla’s $5 billion dollar Gigafactory located in Sparks, Nevada especially as it begins to scale production of lithium-ion batteries for its mass market Model 3 sedan and products for its energy division. One such product will be the company’s commercial-grade battery storage unit, the Powerpack. Just last week Tesla announced that it had won a contract to provide Southern California Edison with a 20-Megawatt Powerpack system for its Mira Loma substation. The battery storage solution will allow the utility company to off load energy generation from off-peak hours to times of peak demand.
In order to support the world’s largest lithium ion battery storage project, Tesla’s Manager of Business Development and Policy, Daniel Witt, says the Gigafactory will need to ramp up quickly to fulfill the contract. As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Witt told an audience at the second annual Building a Stronger Nevada conference held at the University of Nevada, Reno, “This is a big deal for Nevada, There is a one-to-one correlation between the growth of energy storage products and the growth of the Gigafactory project.” Though Tesla did not indicate how much the contract with SoCal Edison was worth, estimates pin the amount to be worth approximately $100 million. The project is expected to completed by the end of the year.
The Gigafactory continues to undergo massive construction – as we saw earlier this summer during our tour of the battery facility – to expand the facility which currently represents less than 15% of the total size when finished. All the exterior walls except the main wall in front are temporary, designed to be broken as new sections of the building are added. Recent aerial footage of the Gigafactory showed the pace of construction accelerating. Through inside reports, we’re told the Gigafactory is busy seven days a week, with some factory workers taking two shifts a day.
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