Image: Tesla
Tesla continues to cement its position as a major force in grid-scale energy storage, with a new $500 million battery energy storage system (BESS) set to come online in California. The massive project is located in Kern County and combines solar generation with Tesla’s Megapack batteries, creating one of the largest solar-plus-storage installations in the U.S.
According to Tesla, the site features 2 GWh of energy storage co-located with 500 MWac of solar capacity. “The site will be capable of providing clean energy equivalent to the annual usage of roughly 467,000 homes, significantly reducing carbon emissions (over 1 million metric tons of CO₂ per year) and supporting grid stability,” the company said in a post on X. In total, the project uses 559 Megapacks to deliver its full 2 GWh of storage capacity.
The scale of the installation highlights how utility-grade batteries are becoming essential infrastructure as grids transition toward renewables. By storing excess solar energy during the day and dispatching it during periods of peak demand, the Megapack-backed system helps smooth out intermittency while delivering reliable, on-demand power. Tesla noted that projects like this demonstrate how large-scale clean energy can be reliable, affordable, and sustainable, while supporting California’s push to reach 100% clean electricity by 2045.
The Megapack is Tesla’s flagship utility-grade energy storage solution. Built for grid-scale applications, each Megapack can store vast amounts of energy and dispatch it when needed, helping utilities stabilize demand and integrate renewable energy like solar and wind into the grid. The technology has quickly become a staple for large battery projects worldwide, from North America to Australia and beyond.
Tesla’s energy storage business has been on a tear in recent years. The company has secured massive Megapack orders, including a $2.7 billion deal with Georgia Power, deployed Megapacks at a major $450 million BESS in Australia earlier this month, and won a $170 million order tied to Australia’s largest wind farm. In California alone, Tesla Megapacks are also set to power a separate $600 million battery storage project near San Diego.
Looking ahead, Tesla is already pushing the technology further. Earlier this year, the company unveiled Megapack 3, its next-generation utility-scale storage product. Megapack 3 can store 5 MWh of usable AC energy per unit and features a redesigned architecture aimed at significantly improving installation speed, efficiency, and long-term reliability. As deployments like the Kern County project show, demand for grid-scale batteries is only accelerating.
With hundreds of Megapacks now supporting one of the largest solar-plus-storage sites in the country, Tesla’s latest Megapack deployment underscores how critical large-scale energy storage has become to modern power grids — and how central Tesla is to that transition.
