Elon Musk wins a bet to build world's largest lithium-ion battery

While Model 3 continues to give sleepless nights to Elon Musk, seems like he finally has something to cheer. Tesla has completed the construction of world's largest lithium-ion battery as part of a renewable energy project for South Australia with the testing process expected to commence in coming days ahead of its December 1 deadline.

Elon Musk and Lyndon Rive, the head of Tesla's battery division, proposed building an energy storage facility in the state following severe blackouts after a storm in March 2016. At the time Musk made a bet with Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, saying Tesla would get the battery installed and working within 100 days of the contract being signed or the $50m system would be free.

⚡️ Thank you @elonmusk, Tesla’s amazing Aussie team, @jayweatherill & all SA 🙏🏻 Never been more happy to lose a bet. 3x bigger than any 🔋 in world! Huge step for Australia & proving what we can do. Only lumps of coal req’d are for #AusPol stockings 🎉 https://t.co/Xm8hm5y33O

— Mike Cannon-Brookes (@mcannonbrookes) November 23, 2017

The 100-day countdown officially started 56 days ago on Friday, September 29, when SA-based electricity transmission company Electranet signed an agreement to install Tesla's batteries.

Congratulations to the Tesla crew and South Australian authorities who worked so hard to get this manufactured and installed in record time! https://t.co/M2zKXlIVn3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2017

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said in a statement, "An enormous amount of work has gone into delivering this project in such a short time. The world's largest lithium-ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix."

The battery aims to "stabilize the South Australian grid" and supply enough power for over 30,000 homes for a little over an hour which is about equal to the number of homes that lost power in September.

The 100-megawatt battery array, made up of Tesla Powerpacks, is connected to the nearby Hornsdale wind farm, operated by Neoen. Set to be launched by Tesla Neoen and the SA government next week, it will then go through a testing phase to ensure it meets regulations.