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Tesla Megapack project in NSW reaches $260M financial close

The latest Tesla Megapack project to be announced in Australia, with a $260 million financial backing.

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Credit: Equis Australia

Partners involved in yet another Tesla Megapack project in Australia have reached a financial close, as the upcoming site also begins construction.

On Monday, renewables provider Equis Australia announced closing on the $260 million deal for 138 two-hour Megapack units in Tamworth, New South Wales (NSW), set to back a 250MW/500MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). Dubbed the “Calala” BESS, Equis says the project will store enough power to supply electricity for as many as 115,000 homes during peak usage.

The Calala project is expected to become fully operational by 2027, and it will be constructed in two independent project phases, bringing 100MW and an additional 150MW online in sequence. Located about 5.8 kilometers (~3.6 miles) to the southeast of the Tamworth town centre, the Calala battery will be connected to the NSW grid using an underground cable leading to Tamworth’s 330kV Substation.

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READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla and Arevon team up on 172-Megapack solar plus project

The BESS is also expected to create around 170 new roles during construction, and as many as seven ongoing positions upon launching operations. The first 100MW portion of the Calala project will be devoted to supplying a partnership with provider Smartest Energy, while Tesla’s Autobidder real-time trading and control platform will be used to manage and oversee energy transactions to make the 150MW project a merchant BESS.

The financial deal includes the sale of $260 million in non-recourse debt financing package from lenders Westpac, Societe Generale, and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The agreement will also include a Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) for the Calala project to contribute a total of $2 million to the Tamworth Regional Council over time.

Equis Australia also has several other BESS projects, primarily located near its headquarters in Melbourne, along with those scattered around the Sydney and Brisbane areas. The company’s Australia branch says it has 16 BESS projects in its portfolio, along with 11 onshore wind projects, together which total 9.6GW of renewable energy capacity.

The renewable provider is also nearing completion of a massive 600MW/1,600MWh BESS outside of Melbourne sporting 444 Tesla Megapack units, which is expected to become operational later this year.

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Currently, Tesla produces most of its Megapacks in Lathrop, California, though the company recently shipped its first units from a new Megafactory in Shanghai, China to Australia. The manufacturer has also begun building a third Megafactory in Waller County, Texas, just a couple of hours east of Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas.

Tesla has joined the Australian Energy Council

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla teases new market entrance with confusing and cryptic message

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla teased its entrance into a new market with a confusing and what appeared to be cryptic message on the social media platform X.

The company has been teasing its entrance into several markets, including Africa, which would be a first, and South America, where it only operates in Chile.

In September, Tesla started creating active job postings for the Colombian market, hinting it would expand its presence in South America and launch in a new country for the first time in two years.

Tesla job postings seem to show next surprise market entry

The jobs were related to various roles, including Associate Sales Manager, Advisors in Sales and Delivery, and Service Technicians. These are all roles that would indicate Tesla is planning to launch a wide-scale effort to sell, manage, and repair vehicles in the market.

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Last night, Tesla posted its latest hint, a cryptic video that seems to show the outline of Colombia, teasing its closer than ever to market entry:

This would be the next expansion into a continent where it does not have much of a presence for Tesla. Currently, there are only two Supercharger locations on the entire continent, and they’re both in Chile.

Tesla will obviously need to expand upon this crucial part of the ownership experience to enable a more confident consumer base in South America as a whole. However, it is not impossible, as many other EV charging infrastructures are available, and home charging is always a suitable option for those who have access to it.

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Surprisingly, Tesla seems to be more concerned about these middle-market countries as opposed to the larger markets in South America, but that could be by design.

If Tesla were to launch in Brazil initially, it may not be able to handle the uptick in demand, and infrastructure expansion could be more difficult. Brazil may be on its list in the upcoming years, but not as of right now.

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Tesla expands crucial Supercharging feature for easier access

It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.

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tesla supercharger
Credit: Tesla

Tesla has expanded a crucial Supercharging feature that helps owners identify stall availability at nearby locations.

Tesla said on Tuesday night that its “Live Availability” feature, which shows EV owners how many stalls are available at a Supercharger station, to Google Maps, a third-party app:

Already offering it in its own vehicles, the Live Availability feature that Teslas have is a helpful feature that helps you choose an appropriate station with plugs that are immediately available.

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A number on an icon where the Supercharger is located lets EV drivers know how many stalls are available.

It is a useful tool, especially during hours of congestion. However, it has not been super effective for those who drive non-Tesla EVs, as other OEMs use UI platforms like Google’s Android Auto or Apple’s iOS.

Essentially, when those drivers needed to charge at a Supercharger that enables non-Tesla EVs to plug in, there was a bit more of a gamble. There was no guarantee that a plug would be available, and with no way to see how many are open, it was a risk.

Tesla adding this feature allows people to have a more convenient and easier-to-use experience if they are in a non-Tesla EV. With the already expansive Supercharger Network being available to so many EV owners, there is more congestion than ever.

This new feature makes the entire experience better for all owners, especially as there is more transparency regarding the availability of plugs at Supercharger stalls.

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It will be interesting to see if Tesla is able to expand on this new move, as Apple Maps compatibility is an obvious goal of the company’s in the future, we could imagine. In fact, this is one of the first times an Android Auto feature is available to those owners before it became an option for iOS users.

Apple owners tend to get priority with new features within the Tesla App itself.

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Elon Musk’s Boring Co goes extra hard in Nashville with first rock-crushing TBM

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

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Credit: The Boring Company/X

The Boring Company is gearing up to tackle one of its toughest projects yet, a new tunnel system beneath Nashville’s notoriously tough limestone terrain. Unlike the soft-soil conditions of Las Vegas and Austin, the Music City Loop will require a “hard-rock” boring machine capable of drilling through dense, erosion-resistant bedrock. 

The Boring Company’s machine for the project is now in final testing.

A boring hard-rock tunneling machine

The Boring Company revealed on X that its new hard-rock TBM can generate up to 4 million pounds of grip force and 1.5 million pounds of maximum thrust load. It also features a 15-filter dust removal system designed to keep operations clean and efficient during excavation even in places where hard rock is present.

Previous Boring Co. projects, including its Loop tunnels in Las Vegas, Austin, and Bastrop, were dug primarily through soft soils. Nashville’s geology, however, poses a different challenge. Boring Company CEO and President Steve Davis mentioned this challenge during the project’s announcement in late July.

“It’s a tough place to tunnel, Nashville. If we were optimizing for the easiest places to tunnel, it would not be here. You have extremely hard rock, like way harder than it should be. It’s an engineering problem that’s fairly easy and straightforward to solve,” Davis said.

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Nashville’s limestone terrain

Experts have stated that the city’s subsurface conditions make it one of the more complex tunneling environments in the U.S. The Outer Nashville Basin is composed of cherty Mississippian-age limestone, a strong yet soluble rock that can dissolve over time, creating underground voids and caves, as noted in a report from The Tennessean.

Jakob Walter, the founder and principal engineer of Haushepherd, shared his thoughts on these challenges. “Limestone is generally a stable sedimentary bedrock material with strength parameters that are favorable for tunneling. Limestone is however fairly soluble when compared to other rack materials, and can dissolve over long periods of time when exposed to water. 

“Unexpected encounters with these features while tunneling can result in significant construction delays and potential instability of the excavation. In urban locations, structures at the ground surface should also be constantly monitored with robotic total stations or similar surveying equipment to identify any early signs of movement or distress,” he said.

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