Tesla to bolster NZ power supply

Tesla has teamed up with Contact Energy and will be building a 100-megawatt (MW) battery that will provide enough electricity to meet peak demand over winter for 44,000 homes for more than two hours.

The $163 million grid-scale battery facility will be based at the New Zealand Steel site in Glenbrook, south Auckland.

The location has been chosen as part of Contact’s existing partnership with NZ Steel and because it has flat land and a high-voltage connection to the national grid. 

It will be the country’s newest large-scale battery, the closest to the largest city, and Tesla’s first Megapack 2 XL system in New Zealand.

There is an option under Contact’s agreement with Tesla to expand the battery’s capacity to 130MW, which would make it the country’s biggest battery.

The battery will store excess renewable electricity, often generated by the wind or sun in off-peak periods when demand is low, which would otherwise go to waste. 

It will rapidly discharge this electricity to the grid when it is needed and provide a back-up supply of electricity for unexpected outages. 

Mike Fuge, Contact’s chief executive officer, says the industrial-sized lithium battery will play a key role in maintaining a reliable supply of electricity for New Zealand, particularly during periods of high demand throughout the winter. 

“The battery will supply power to the grid in an instant, quickly getting electricity to where it is most needed in the country,” he adds. 

“It will also support the development of new renewables like wind and solar generation.”

Work at the Glenbrook site is due to start immediately and the battery is expected to take up to 18 months to install and will be commercially operational by March 2026. 

Contact will manage the overall project, with Tesla responsible for the supply and commissioning of the battery. Tesla will also provide long-term maintenance services.