CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Elon Musk’s proposal to fix the South Australian power market was only announced on Thurday morning, but the first stages of development for the “world’s biggest lithium ion battery” are already visible in the state’s rural mid-north, it has been confirmed.
Set to be built by Tesla and French company Neoen, it appears the infrastructure project is already well and truly underway, judging by the 220-kilometre-long jumper leads currently sitting in an empty sheep station in Outback South Australia.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the jumper leads will play a big part in keeping the lights on in Adelaide, because as we have all learnt over the last few heatwaves, even the South Australia capital needs to get a jump start from a mate every now and then.
“Just like when a car runs flat… We’ll be attaching these cables to our city’s power grid and giving them a zap from the Tesla pack” he said.
“We just need to make sure we don’t sell the Tesla battery to the Chinese as well. Because that seems to be where our trouble started with the initial grid”
Tesla founder and owner Elon Musk says while the jumper leads will be able to comfortably stretch from the Jamestown location all the way to Adelaide, it is up to the South Australian government to make sure they get the clamps on the right terminals.
“If you put them on the wrong ones we might blow this battery up for good”
“I don’t suspect there will be any risk of that happening but I have learnt to never underestimate the incompetencies of Australian local, state and federal governments”
