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Tesla Megapacks help Alberta, Canada push towards sustainability

Credit: Twitter | @TransAlta

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Tesla has unloaded Megapacks to a “Windcharger” in Canada, which will store massive amounts of energy from a large wind farm in the province of Alberta.

TransAlta owns the Windcharger project through its “wholly-owned subsidiary,” the Western Sustainable Power Corporation. According to TransAlta’s website, the company has been looking for an appropriate battery storage solution at its various wind farms throughout Canada for several years. Tesla’s energy storage business surely fits the bill.

The Summerview Wind Farm location was chosen to utilize Tesla Megapacks because of its “many desirable features, which are conducive to siting a battery storage facility of this nature,” TransAlta stated. It will be the first lithium-ion, utility-scale battery storage project in Alberta.

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The Tesla Megapacks will have a nameplate capacity of 10 MW, with a total storage capacity of 20 MWh. Each Megapack has up to 3MWh of storage capacity.

The Alberta, Canada area has been pushing for sustainable energy use for several years, according to the province’s official website. Energy use has increased at a steady rate, along with population, and Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) has implemented a series of competitive bidding processes to encourage renewable energy projects.

Alberta held three total rounds of bidding for various sustainable energy projects around the province, all of which would help local energy suppliers utilize geothermal, hydro, solar, sustainable biomass, or wind energy.

One of the projects from the third round of bidding was the TransAlta “Windcharger” project, which is also known as “Windrise.” The project was announced on December 17, 2018, and approved in November 2019. It is the second-largest sustainable energy project in Alberta at 207 MW. The only renewable energy project that holds more energy storage capability is a 248-MW wind farm owned by EDP Renewables Canada Ltd.

The project is valued at $22.7M and received funding from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), who supplied the TransAlta windfarm with over $11.1M in financial assistance. “Wind and solar power is intermittent — turbines and solar panels only produce power when the wind is blowing, and the sun is shining,” ERA stated. “That poses challenges as renewable energy grows because the North American power grid was designed to draw power from large reliable sources that provide a consistent level of baseload power, like large hydro facilities and coal-fired generating stations. That’s why ERA is supporting renewable storage projects, like this initiative by TransAlta, that will test the world’s most advanced lithium-ion batteries made by Elon Musk’s Tesla Energy.”

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One of the most significant advantages of Tesla’s Megapack is that it requires significantly less space and fewer parts than other energy storage systems on the market. Tesla stated, “At the site level, Megapack requires 40% less space and 10x fewer parts than current systems on the market. As a result, this high-density, modular system can be installed 10x faster than current systems.”

This allows for quick and easy installation and could mean more companies will opt for Megapacks as they will decrease the time needed to ramp a project. The Megapack systems are becoming more popular across the world.

Tesla’s Megapack at the Windcharger facility. (Credit: TransAlta)

The 207-MW project owned by TransAlta will give enough energy to power around 80,000 homes, according to Alberta.ca. The project is planned to be operational by Summer 2021.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Energy

Tesla inks multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution to avoid tariff pressure

Tesla has reportedly secured a sizable partnership with LGES for LFP cells, and there’s an extra positive out of it.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has reportedly inked a multi-billion-dollar deal with LG Energy Solution in an effort to avoid tariff pressure and domesticate more of its supply chain.

Reuters is reporting that Tesla and LGES, a South Korean battery supplier of the automaker, signed a $4.3 billion deal for energy storage system batteries. The cells are going to be manufactured by LGES at its U.S. factory located in Michigan, the report indicates. The batteries will be the lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, chemistry.

Tesla delivers 384,000 vehicles in Q2 2025, deploys 9.6 GWh in energy storage

It is a move Tesla is making to avoid buying cells and parts from overseas as the Trump White House continues to use tariffs to prioritize domestic manufacturing.

LGES announced earlier today that it had signed a $4.3 billion contract to supply LFP cells over three years to a company, but it did not identify the customer, nor did the company state whether the batteries would be used in automotive or energy storage applications.

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The deal is advantageous for both companies. Tesla is going to alleviate its reliance on battery cells that are built out of the country, so it’s going to be able to take some financial pressure off itself.

For LGES, the company has reported that it has experienced slowed demand for its cells in terms of automotive applications. It planned to offset this demand lag with more projects involving the cells in energy storage projects. This has been helped by the need for these systems at data centers used for AI.

During the Q1 Earnings Call, Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja confirmed that the company’s energy division had been impacted by the need to source cells from China-based suppliers. He went on to say that the company would work on “securing additional supply chain from non-China-based suppliers.”

It seems as if Tesla has managed to secure some of this needed domestic supply chain.

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Tesla Shanghai Megafactory produces 1,000th Megapack for export to Europe

The Shanghai Megafactory was able to hit this milestone less than six months after it started producing the Megapack. 

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla Energy has announced a fresh milestone for its newest Megapack factory. As per the electric vehicle maker, the Shanghai Megafactory has successfully produced its 1,000th Megapack battery. 

The facility was able to hit this milestone less than six months after it started producing the grid-scale battery system. 

New Tesla Megapack Milestone

As per Tesla Asia in a post on its official accounts on social media platform X, the 1,000th Megapack unit that was produced at the Shanghai Megafactory would be exported to Europe. As noted in a CNEV Post report, Tesla’s energy products are currently deployed in over 65 countries and regions globally. This allows Tesla Energy to compete in energy markets that are both emerging and mature.

To commemorate the 1,000th Megapack produced at the Shanghai Megafactory, the Tesla China team posted with the grid-scale battery with celebratory balloons that spelled “Megapack 1000.” The milestone was celebrated by Tesla enthusiasts on social media, especially since the Shanghai Megafactory only started its operations earlier this year.

Quick Megafactory Ramp

The Shanghai Megafactory, similar to Tesla’s other key facilities in China, was constructed quickly. The facility started its construction on May 23, 2024, and it was hailed as Tesla’s first entry storage project outside the United States. Less than a year later, on February 11, 2025, the Shanghai Megafactory officially started producing Megapack batteries. And by March 21, 2025, Tesla China noted that it had shipped the first batch of Megapack batteries from the Shanghai plant to foreign markets.

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While the Shanghai Megafactory is still not at the same level of output as Tesla’s Lathrop Megafactory, which produces about 10,000 Megapacks per year, its ramp seems to be quite steady and quick. It would then not be surprising if Tesla China announces the Shanghai Megafactory’s 2,000th Megapack milestone in the coming months.

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Energy

Tesla launches first Virtual Power Plant in UK – get paid to use solar

Tesla has launched its first-ever Virtual Power Plant program in the United Kingdom.

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Credit: Tesla Energy | X

Tesla has launched its first-ever Virtual Power Plant program in the United Kingdom. This feature enables users of solar panels and energy storage systems to sell their excess energy back to the grid.

Tesla is utilizing Octopus Energy, a British renewable energy company that operates in multiple markets, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, as the provider for the VPP launch in the region.

The company states that those who enroll in the program can earn up to £300 per month.

Tesla has operated several VPP programs worldwide, most notably in California, Texas, Connecticut, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. This is not the first time Tesla has operated a VPP outside the United States, as there are programs in Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

This is its first in the UK:

Tesla is not the only company that is working with Octopus Energy in the UK for the VPP, as it joins SolarEdge, GivEnergy, and Enphase as other companies that utilize the Octopus platform for their project operations.

It has been six years since Tesla launched its first VPP, as it started its first in Australia back in 2019. In 2024, Tesla paid out over $10 million to those participating in the program.

Tesla VPP program in California hits new capacity milestone

Participating in the VPP program that Tesla offers not only provides enrolled individuals with the opportunity to earn money, but it also contributes to grid stabilization by supporting local energy grids.

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