Tesla energy 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

At 13% of revenue, driving 25% of total gross profit, the energy subsidiary is important to Tesla.

"Megapack," their stationary rechargeable energy storage system, is made at giga factories in California (opened in 2022), Shanghai, and Texas (opened two months ago). Its big storage capacity enables solar power. 

A lake in the desert of eastern California was drained to help Los Angeles about a hundred years ago. It's now dry, stirred up by the wind to be a huge air pollutant. About $2 billion has been spent trying to tamp down the dust. The land was unproductive and useless.

But not anymore. Solar panels were installed to use the land's one asset (sunshine) but there were problems. Solutions were found, megapack being one of them.

1. The panels produced the most power at mid-day, but much less at peak time. People coming home after work needed it about 7 p.m. for air conditioning, dinner, and light. The video below shows huge megapacks storing energy produced in daylight, then releasing it as needed at peak demand.

2. Surprisingly, plants were able to grow below the panels, shaded from the desert sun, eliminating most sand and dust which damage the glass, and cooling the glass a bit. Then sheep were brought in who could feed on the plants.

Useless land went from being a costly problem to being productive and profitable, a very good outcome: