(Bloomberg) — Advanced Microgrid Solutions, a provider of
energy-storage systems, agreed to buy as much as 500 megawatt-hours of battery capacity from Tesla Motors Inc.
About 40 percent of that order will be used in developing
50 megawatts of storage for Edison International’s Southern
California Edison unit, an agreement reached in November,
Advanced Microgrid Chief Executive Officer Susan Kennedy said
Thursday in a telephone interview.
The deal shows that Tesla’s battery technology, initially
designed for its electric vehicles, is also gaining traction for
other applications. Advanced Microgrid evaluated numerous
suppliers and “it was very clear from the beginning that
Tesla’s was just a standout technology,” Kennedy said.
“We intend to use Tesla batteries on a huge number of our
projects going forward, and our pipeline is a lot bigger than
just the Edison project,” she said.
Advanced Microgrid’s systems will be installed at
commercial and industrial buildings and connected to the local
power grid. When power demand in an area is high, the buildings
can draw electricity from the batteries, freeing up capacity
that can be made available to other users.
Kennedy declined to say how much her company is paying for
the batteries or compare the order to competitors’ bids.
Advanced Micro also signed a deal with Black & Veatch Corp. for
engineering and construction services.
The first Advanced Microgrid project will be 10 megawatts
of capacity built next year in Irvine, California. The company
may use other battery types later, depending on the type of
project, Kennedy said.
“What I like about the Tesla batteries is that they’re so
versatile,” she said. “But we’re technology agnostic. We can
choose any type of technology.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Will Wade, Robin Saponar