Tesla secures biggest ever order – six gigawatt hours – for Megapack batteries in US

Leading American renewable energy company Arevon has just made a 2GW/6GWh order for Tesla Megapack battery units in the US, believed to be the largest single battery storage order in the world.

The order is designed to support the growing of utility-scale solar and storage installations for Arevon, which was created just one month ago through the combination of Capital Dynamics’ US clean energy infrastructure team and Arevon Asset Management, Capital Dynamics’ former energy asset management affiliate.

The company is now 100% owned by an investor group comprised of APG, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

The order comes just days after Tesla and French renewable energy developer Neoen announced that the cause of a fire in two Megapack units in Victoria in July had been identified, and the problem rectified, and they now had regulatory approval to commission the 300MW/450MWh Victorian big battery.

To put Arevon’s single order in context, Australia currently has seven operating big batteries in its main grid, with total storage of just over 500MWh (including the newly connected Wandoan battery in Queensland),  and will reach nearly 1GWh when the Victorian Big Battery is commissioned.

Arevon Energy says it is looking at creating  a standalone clean energy platform of 4.5GW of operating, under construction, and late-stage development solar and battery storage projects, as well as a further 3GW pipeline.

Arevon will utilise its new Tesla Megapack master supply agreement to build out its Falcon portfolio, a joint undertaking with Nebraskan energy company Tenaska to develop standalone battery storage projects in California load centres over the next four years.

According to a September 2020 planning document (PDF), Falcon consists of nine battery storage projects in California which will begin coming online as early as the middle of 2022, and all will be operational by the middle of 2023.

Consisting of nearly 2GW of capacity located across three transmission areas, each project can be configured to provide up to four hours of battery-delivered energy during peak times of day.

“Arevon is at the forefront of powering the energy transition through solar and storage resources,” said Justin Johnson, Arevon’s chief operating officer.

“We are pleased to be working with Tesla, securing a quality product that is in high demand. This agreement ensures that Arevon can deliver near-term storage solutions to our customers, mitigating the risk of supply shortages and project delays.”

The signing of such a significant battery storage master supply agreement further highlights the growing demand for stationary batteries in the United States.

Analysts Wood Mackenzie, in its most recent US Energy Storage Monitor report, predicted the market will grow to 35GWh a year by 2026 and be worth $US8.9 billion.