Mercedes has announced a new wind power deal to ensure it reaches carbon neutrality as soon as possible.
Countless automotive industry giants have become involved in the renewable energy sector, with varying levels of involvement. Still, one of the most involved has been Mercedes, which has invested heavily in massive wind and solar projects to power its European operations. Now, the business has secured another source of that energy from power company Iberdrola, which will be delivering up to 140MW of power from a Baltic Sea wind power site, coming online in 2026.
Mercedes will begin to receive power from the Iberdrola Baltic wind project starting in 2027. They will likely be one, if not the largest, customer of the power project, seeing as the system is projected to produce only just over double what Mercedes is getting, 300MW.
While the total transaction amount has not been revealed by Mercedes or Iberdrola, it is expected to be a multi-hundred million euro deal, providing the automaker with energy at a discount. At the same time, Iberdrola would receive a dependable income from its sizable wind project.
This investment, set to save the automaker millions, comes at a time of incredibly high cost across the entire automotive industry. The process of factory retrofitting, combined with the process of EV development investments, has proved to be some of the most expensive undertakings automakers are currently undertaking. Perhaps nowhere has this better been seen than at Ford, which now anticipates a $3 billion loss within its EV business alone, thanks to these incredibly high upfront costs.
This is not the first wind project Mercedes has invested in, nor is it the only renewables deal the automaker has inked. Previously, the premium German automaker invested in a sizable wind project in Central Germany and has also invested in numerous solar projects in the South of the country. Mercedes previously aimed to receive 70% of its energy used for car production from renewable sources by 2030 but has recently revised that estimate upwards to 80%, thanks to its success in its power investments.
Mercedes has stated that thanks to the Baltic wind project and numerous other renewable investments, half of all its operations in Europe will be powered by clean energy by 2025.
Outside of energy generation, much like many other automakers, Mercedes is investing in energy storage technologies, including both battery storage systems and hydrogen storage capabilities, which will likely both serve to help ensure baseload energy is consistently supplied to the power-hungry industrial giant.
The funding provided by countless European automakers for the generation of renewable energy has been a primary reason Europe has become a leader in the use of the greener energy transition, with the most recent estimate being that roughly 22% of Europe is now powered by such projects. However, this progress has been stunted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the dramatic increase in production costs in recent months.
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Tesla Energy has become the undisputed dark horse of the electric vehicle maker. This was highlighted by Tesla Energy’s growing role in the company’s overall operations in the past quarters.
And as per Tesla’s year-end milestone posts on X, Tesla Energy had a blockbuster 2024.
Tesla Energy’s 2024 milestones:
- As per Tesla on its official social media account on X, the company has hit over 800,000 Powerwalls installed worldwide.
- From this number, over 100,000 Powerwall batteries have been enrolled in virtual power plant (VPP) programs.
- The Powerwall 3 has officially been launched in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand.
- The Tesla Megapack hit over 22 GWh in operation across more than 60 countries across the globe.
- The Lathrop Megafactory, which produces the Megapack, has been ramped to 40 GWh per year.
- The Lathrop Megafactory has also produced its 10,000th Megapack battery.
- The Shanghai Megafactory was completed in just seven months, and it is ready to start Megapack production in Q1 2025.
Hit 800k Powerwalls installed worldwide
— Tesla (@Tesla) December 31, 2024
Also:
– Over 100k Powerwalls are now enrolled in VPP programs
– Launched Powerwall 3 in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, UK, Germany, Italy, Australia & New Zealand
– Megapack hit 22+ GWh in operation across 60+ countries
– Ramped… pic.twitter.com/bE88DpeyTg
Powerwall owners’ 2024 impact:
- As per Tesla Energy, Powerwall owners generated a total of 4.5 TWh of solar energy globally in 2024. This was equivalent to powering a Model 3 for more than 17 billion miles.
- A total of 1.1 TWh of energy was stored in Powerwalls in 2024. This protected homes from over 5.8 million outages during the year.
- Tesla’s Storm Watch feature for Powerwall batteries covered 2.8 million severe weather events over the year.
- Powerwall owners saw collective savings of over $800 million on utility bills.
- Virtual Power Plants contributed over 2.2 GWh of power to the grid. This reduced the need for 2,200 metric tons of fossil fuel peaker plant emissions.
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Utah-based rPlus Energies recently held the groundbreaking ceremony for the Green River Energy Center, a 400 MW solar PV and 400 MW/1,600 MWh battery storage project in Eastern Utah. Tesla Megapacks will be used as the upcoming facility’s battery storage solution.
At 400 MW/1,600 MWh, the Green River Energy Center is expected to become one of the largest solar-plus-storage projects under development in the United States. Once operational, the facility would supply power to PacifiCorp under a power purchase agreement, as noted in a press release.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox shared his excitement for the project during the Green River Energy Center’s groundbreaking event. As per the Utah Governor, the solar and battery storage system represents a notable step forward for the state’s sustainable energy efforts.
NEWS: rPlus Energy has just broken ground on a new $362 million @Tesla Megapack battery energy storage system in Utah.
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 24, 2024
This 400 MW solar PV and 400 MW/1,600 MWh battery storage project is one of the largest solar-plus-storage projects under construction in the nation. The entire… pic.twitter.com/ubPOUnPWEf
“This project is being built in rural Utah, by rural Utahns, and for all of Utah. When rural Utah thrives, the entire state prospers. Today, we’re not just breaking ground—we’re building a future of affordable, abundant energy in Utah,” the official noted.
The Green River Energy Center secured over $1 billion in construction debt financing earlier this year. The facility is also expected to create about 500 jobs, many of which will be filled by local workers. With this in mind, the solar and battery farm would likely prove to be a boost to Emery County’s economy, enhancing tax revenue, strengthening public services, and offering long-term employment opportunities for the area’s residents.
Sundt Construction will serve as the project’s contractor, EliTe Solar will supply the solar modules, and Tesla will provide the battery storage system for the project. Luigi Resta, President and CEO of rPlus Energies, noted that the Green River Energy Center is special because of the entities that have worked together to make the facility a reality.
“It’s the partners that make this project special, that have made this monumental project possible. From our equipment providers to the onsite talent, and the support of the local and regional community, we owe this project’s success to each of you,” he stated.
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Tesla Energy is losing a director who brought Autobidder, a real-time trading and control platform that provides value-based asset management and portfolio optimization, to the company.
Rohan Ma, who has been at Tesla for just under eight years, announced he would depart the company on LinkedIn, aiming to take on a new opportunity elsewhere.
Ma posted:
“After eight years at Tesla, this will be my last week. It was a ride of a lifetime! Today, Tesla Energy is thriving and I can confidently say it’s in the best position it has ever been in to drive impact toward the original mission I signed up for. I’m proud to have contributed over the years to where it is now, and will be cheering the team on from the sidelines as they carry the torch forward and continue to relentlessly solve problems at the frontier of the energy transition.”
Ma started as the Senior Manager of Energy Optimization at Tesla back in November 2016. After four-and-a-half years at the position, he then moved on to a new role as the Director of Energy and Software Optimization. He has been in that role for over three years.
The exit of Ma is the latest in Tesla’s tough year in terms of losing high-level employees.
Earlier this year, as a part of widespread layoffs, Tesla eliminated up to 20 percent of its workforce and people like Rebecca Tinucci, who was the company’s Senior Director of EV Charging.
Tesla also lost Rohan Patel, Vice President of Global Public Policy and Business Development, and Martin Viecha, who was Head of Investor Relations, are just a few notables to depart.
Autobidder
Tesla’s Autobidder platform helps owners and operators make money by autonomously monetizing battery assets. It is a real-time trading and control platform that maximizes revenue according to business objectives and risk preferences.
Tesla Megapack, Autobidder to be deployed in big battery project in Queensland
Autobidder already has hundreds of megawatt-hours under management and continues to scale. It is hosted on Tesla’s secure cloud infrastructure that is engineered to handle large and complex computations.
Without Ma’s expertise, Autobidder would likely not be involved in Tesla’s Energy division at all, and although it is not frequently discussed, it is still a major part of the business’s growth over the past several years.
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