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South Australia and Tesla To Build World's Largest Battery

And it will be built by December or it's free.

Australia is set to become home to the world's biggest battery following a deal between the South Australian government and Tesla's Elon Musk.

Readers may remember the tech billionaire's offer to fix South Australia's power woes following a series of blackouts that hit the state earlier this year.

Premier Jay Weathrill announced the partnership between the SA Government, Tesla and French company Neoen to build the 100MW/129MW battery by December 1, or it's free.

"The battery will operate all the time providing suitable services for reliable energy, and will be available to provide emergency backup power if a short-fall in energy is predicted," Weatherill said in a statement.

Speaking in South Australia, Musk told reporters the system will be three times more powerful than other large scale batteries.

"This is not sort of a minor foray into the frontier, we're going three times further than anyone has gone before," he said.

It is hoped that by storing excess power and then returning it to the grid, it will lower energy bill averages in the summer months. Tesla on its website says it will provide enough power for more than 30,000 homes.

"It's a fundamental efficiency improvement to the grid."

Musk said there was risk in the project.

"We're confident in our modelling techniques and design of the system. But whenever you make anything three times bigger than anything that's come before, there is some risk," he said.

In September last year the state was plunged into a blackout after a severe storm interrupted power supply. There were further blackouts earlier this year.

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