Tesla Silently Builds Japan's Biggest Virtual Power Plant

JAKARTA - Tesla's newest virtual power plant is apparently in Japan. The electric car company announced on Friday, August 26 that it had been secretly installing Powerwall batteries on homes on Miyako-MMA Island since 2021.

They even now have more than 300 batteries installed. According to Tesla, as quoted by The Verge, this is Japan's largest commercial virtual power plant.

These virtual power plants utilize solar panels and batteries in private homes. People with these settings can register to send extra power back to power grids in their areas, as well as provide extra impetus during situations when they are at risk of outage.

This network can use that power instead of being attractive from gas-fueled power plants that are usually used during tense power supply.

The virtual power plant is based on a program in local energy utilities in Miyako-MMA, Miyakoshima Mirai Energy Co, which installs solar panels and storage batteries at no cost.

Tesla already has virtual power plants operating in California and Australia and is working to begin in Texas, where they see an opportunity to add new resources to unreliable networks forever.

In California, people who put Powerwalls in their homes can earn $2 for every kilowatt-hour that is fed back to the network during a state of emergency or high demand period.

People living in Miyako-juma had experienced regular power outages during the typhoon, and Powerwalls helped keep the lights on in their respective homes. When a typhoon winds, lights are available, refrigerators can be used as usual, Powerwall customers said in a video released by Tesla.

Tesla said it plans to install 400 units of Powerwall by the end of the year and 600 units by the end of 2023. The company then plans to expand to the entire prefecture of Okinawa, which includes a constellation of islands stretching between mainland Japan and Taiwan.