Switch, the operator of The Citadel Campus data center, is partnering with Capital Dynamics to invest $1,3 billion to build a solar and battery system. The system will be very large-scale, the total capacity of solar power plants will be 555 MW, and the total capacity of the Tesla Megapack “mega-accumulator” will be 800 MWh.
The solar panels will be supplied by First Solar. According to the partners, there will be several “solar power plants + batteries” systems. They will be distributed throughout the state of Nevada, where the level of insolation is very high. One of them will be located near the Reno business park, where the largest data center in the world from Switch and the Tesla Gigafactory are located.
Source: switch
The total capacity of the equipment that can be installed on the Citadel campus is about 650 MW. So far, this limit has not been reached, but the company plans to use alternative energy. So that even with the maximum load on the equipment on campus there are no power problems. The area of the campus is 690 thousand m2.
According to the Switch plan, the Tahoe Reno 1 data center will first provide energy and batteries. It consumes about 130 MW. A solar power plant with a capacity of 127 MW and a Tesla battery complex with a capacity of 240 MWh will be built next to it. According to the authors of the project, this complex is designed exclusively to work with the Switch data center, energy will not be used for any other purposes. The cost of energy will be about 5 cents per kWh.
As for the Megapack batteries, Tesla has previously reported a 60% increase in energy density of these batteries compared to conventional Powerpacks.
The world's largest battery is built by Tesla Inc. . It provided a 90% reduction in the cost of operating the local power grid. The Megapack battery packs are specially designed for fast assembly. For example, the same Australian battery was installed in just 100 days. If it had taken longer, Musk would have waived fees for services and equipment.
This is what a battery complex looks like in Australia
The budget for the new project is $1,3 billion. According to the state of Nevada, the construction of new facilities will create many new jobs. And this is the stimulation of the local economy of the state.
For Tesla, the project is also profitable, since the battery business, judging by the results of the second quarter, brings it good money. The company went into profit partly due to the "battery" division.
The Switch company is trying to make all its data centers “green”. Usually hydroelectric power plants are built for these purposes, but the operator does not neglect other sources of electricity. Nevada is one of the most profitable states in terms of obtaining solar energy. Solar panels will provide enough energy to supply the data center, and Megapack batteries will smooth out the uneven generation of electricity at different times of the day and year.
Source: habr.com