Energy
Tesla Powerpacks aid Samoa’s transition to 100% renewable energy
The island nation of Samoa is continuing its effort to convert from diesel-reliant powerplants to 100% renewable energy with the help of Tesla’s scalable Powerpack battery storage solution. Over the past year, the California-based electric car and energy company had been hard at work installing and launching two Tesla Powerpack sites in the country, both of which are designed to capture the abundance of renewable energy, otherwise lost without a means for storage, and offer grid stability to local utilities.
Tesla Powerpack installations at the Fiaga Power Station and the Faleolo International Airport are integrated with 13.6 MWh of energy storage for the island’s solar, wind, and hydropower farms. The entire system is optimized by Tesla’s Grid Controller, which gives the country real-time control over grid stability, reliability, and security. In a statement to the Samoan Observer, Samoa Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi noted that the utilization of Tesla’s battery storage system has helped the country provide additional stability to its power grid.
“Without the new battery energy storage systems and microgrid controller, the system will not be able to operate efficiently with such a high percentage of solar penetration in Samoa of 55%. Since the batteries have been running on trial tests, the quality (voltage and frequency) of the electricity supply has been very steady and not fluctuating as before,” he said.
Tuilaepa further stated that Tesla’s battery storage system, together with the country’s ongoing renewable energy projects, would ultimately allow Samoa to power itself on 100% renewable energy by 2025. Over the years, the state has been pushing clean energy solutions to its power system, and between July 2017 to June 2018 alone, 48% of the electricity in Samoa was generated from renewable energy systems. Ultimately, Tuilaepa expressed his thanks to Tesla, which was awarded the project back in 2017, as well as other companies taking part in Samoa’s transition to fully renewable power.
Samoa’s transition to clean energy is a classic example of an island nation relinquishing old, costly systems and embracing newer, more environmentally-friendly solutions. The country imports millions of liters of oil every year, and in 2012, Samoa ended up importing 95 million liters (25 million gallons) of diesel to support its energy grid, particularly after it was ravaged by Cyclone Evan, which damaged the nation’s hydropower plants.
Tesla Energy might not incite as much news as the company’s electric car business, but projects involving solar and battery installations across the world have continued to grow at an exciting pace, providing disaster relief and grid stability to areas prone to power outages and high energy costs. In a way, updates such as the Samoa Powerpack farm corroborate CTO JB Straubel’s recent comments about Tesla’s Energy initiatives and the company’s focus to ramp production of its Tesla Energy products, considering high demand from consumers.
Tesla’s Powerpacks and solar panels are proving to be incredibly useful for large-scale energy projects. In Australia alone, Tesla is involved in the creation of an enormous Powerpack farm in Victoria, as well as the first installations in its proposed 50,000 Powerwall virtual power plant in South Australia. Overall, the Samoa Powerpack installations stand as the company’s latest project situated on an island. Tesla, after all, is currently involved in thousands of energy projects in Puerto Rico, and it has also rolled out battery installations in islands such as Ta’u in American Samoa and Kauai in Hawaii.
Watch Tesla’s video on its Samoa Powerpack project below.
Energy
Tesla Semi factory is getting a celebration nobody expected
Tesla will inaugurate its Nevada Semi factory September 24, five months after production quietly began ramping.
Tesla says it will officially inaugurate its new Semi factory in Nevada next month. The Tesla Semi account posted the announcement on X, sharing a graphic titled “Semi Rollout” with a date of September 24. No further details were given about the format of the event or who would attend.
While Tesla’s dedicated Semi plant in Sparks, adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada, opened back in April, with the first trucks rolling off the high volume line on April 29, the timing for the factory inauguration comes at a surprise. The ribbon cutting event five months into production is a break from how Tesla has usually handled its other factories, where the first truck or car off the line typically served as the milestone moment.
Inauguration of new Semi factory in Nevada next month pic.twitter.com/a8kAlxrOOn
— Tesla Semi (@tesla_semi) August 24, 2026
The 1.7 million square foot factory was built as part of a $3.6 billion expansion Tesla announced in early 2023, and it shares a site with the battery cell lines that feed the Semi’s structural pack, a decision meant to remove the supply bottleneck that delayed the truck for years. The plant is designed for 50,000 trucks a year at full ramp. Semi program director Dan Priestley has said production “is now ramping” rather than claiming it has reached scale.
Nine years passed between the Semi’s 2017 unveiling and this stage of production, with the truck slipping from an original 2019 target through hand built pilot units for PepsiCo and a slow build out of the Nevada plant. An inauguration event now gives Tesla a stage to talk up that ramp and reset expectations for how many trucks it can begin delivering at scale.
The September date also lines up with the Semi’s next milestone. Tesla confirmed the truck is heading to Europe with a full unveiling at the IAA Transportation trade show in Hannover, Germany, running September 15 through 20. Between the Nevada event and the Hannover reveal, Tesla has roughly a week and a half in September to make the case that the Semi is now a truck being built and sold on two continents rather than tested in a handful of fleets.
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
Elon Musk
Inside Tesla’s secretive $10 Billion “Project Crystal Sun” filing
Tesla filed for a $10.1 billion Fort Bend solar factory, but the site isn’t confirmed.
Tesla has filed paperwork in Texas for a second massive manufacturing project in the same week it locked down its chip fabrication site, this time for a $10.1 billion solar cell plant in Fort Bend County. The filing, submitted July 22 under the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act and first surfaced by Sawyer Merritt on X, lists an internal project name of “Project Crystal Sun” and targets a site off FM 762 and FM 1994 near Richmond, about 40 minutes outside Houston.
Tesla is planning to build a $10.1 billion vertically integrated solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County, Texas, about 40 minutes from Houston, according to a new public application filing.
Tesla is aiming to start construction this year and finish in 2028, with… pic.twitter.com/f3HIK5HGST
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 7, 2026
The application, prepared by Kroll Tax Services on Tesla’s behalf, spans five parcels totaling roughly 3,000 acres within the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. Tesla wants a 10 year property tax limitation in exchange for the investment, split as $1.5 billion in real property and $8.6 billion in equipment and personal property. The company projects 9,712 permanent jobs once the plant reaches full operation, with 1,147 peak construction jobs during a build window running from this year through 2028 and commercial operations targeted for the first quarter of 2029.
Tesla is not fully committed to Fort Bend County yet. The filing states the company is weighing the site against an unnamed out of state alternative, and frames the tax abatement as what would make Texas competitive against that option. If the district and county decline the incentive, Tesla says it may build elsewhere.
Tesla Megapack Megafactory in Texas advances with major property sale
The plant would handle the full solar cell production chain in one facility, according to the filing, covering wafer and ingot manufacturing, coating, metallization and printing lines, cell testing, automated material handling and cleanroom infrastructure. That scope points to Tesla vertically integrating a part of its supply chain it currently sources largely from overseas partners, mirroring the approach behind its expanding Megapack production in Brookshire, Texas, where Tesla has already built out two buildings for its grid battery business.
The timing lines up closely with Tesla and SpaceX’s other big Texas commitment this month. SpaceX confirmed its Terafab chip factory would land in Grimes County days before this filing surfaced, with construction on that $16.8 billion project starting almost immediately after local officials met with residents. Terafab is meant to produce the AI chips running Tesla’s Optimus robots and Full Self-Driving software, while a solar cell plant would feed a different part of the business, the panels and storage systems Tesla sells to homeowners, businesses and utilities, and increasingly needs to power its own data centers.
Musk has talked about building domestic solar manufacturing capacity before, tying it to the amount of power Tesla’s AI ambitions will require.
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Tesla Theater might be getting plenty more streaming platforms
