Tesla Powerpack Applications for Plug-and-Play Power Systems & Microgrids

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Recently, the Director of Engineering and Construction, Energy Projects at Tesla Michael Snyder, announced via LinkedIn that the company has over 120 active microgrids around the world. Since this statement has received a lot of attention, Snyder decided to take a deeper look at this topic and talked about Tesla's effort to deliver plug-and-play microgrids with a wide range of applications.

Snyder wrote that the company focuses on turning microgrids into plug-and-play power systems. He explained that, despite the fact the full island or community microgrids have a unique power system and utilize special protection characteristics, the vast majority of projects can be simplified and systematized into plug-and-play power systems.

Tesla Microgrid has never been a separate product from an engineering point of view. It was just another application that is integrating into the Powerpack hardware, software, and systems testing ecosystem and product evolution. In fact, the plug-and-play Microgrid has been a fundamental building block since the inception of the Powerpack platform.

With this approach, the company has the same hardware and software that is used in both large network projects and every microgrid around the world, said Snyder. The company can use all of its engineering power for the entire product to improve all projects and applications by implementing them, just like over-the-air updates for Tesla vehicles.

Source: Western Power

"These microgrid projects range from providing resiliency to businesses in both strong and weak grids, to 80% + renewable microgrids operating in remote rural and island locations around the globe supporting critical public and community infrastructure."

Snyder explained that, for example, to electrify critical sites in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, predominantly solar microgrids in Eritrea and Nigeria, an affordable housing community in Hawaii, backup power for substation/distribution feeders, backup power for a train in Japan in case of a utility power outage, providing more reliable and cheaper power for residents in Sabang, Philippines, etc., Tesla used the same platform.

With each new project, Tesla learns more and adds to its tool belt of experience, which guarantees continuous improvement. Snyder also invited those involved in the design and construction of energy projects, or groups of service engineers, to become part of the Tesla team.

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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