Apple’s California Solar Farm with Tesla Megapacks Highlighted [VIDEO]

In 2019, Apple issued a Green Bond to fund renewable energy projects aimed at reducing the carbon impact of the energy used to charge Apple devices.

One of these projects is the utility-scale battery at the California Flats Solar Project in Monterey County, California, which stores up to 240 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity for later use when the carbon intensity of the grid is highest. This helps address the intermittency of renewable power across the state.

The investment in utility-scale storage in California and research on new energy storage technologies is part of Apple’s efforts to address the intermittency of renewable electricity production.

The industry-leading, grid-scale energy storage project in California became operational in fiscal year 2022, supporting Apple’s 130-megawatt California Flats solar farm by storing excess energy generated during the day and deploying it when it is most needed.

Aside from Arevon’s 280 MW solar panel system at the Cal Flats project, excess energy from the latter is stored in a 240 MWh Megapack from Tesla, making it one of the biggest battery installations in America. Tesla’s Megapack is its commercial version of the Powerwall, essentially a battery storage solution that comes with included software management.

Yesterday, Tesla highlighted Apple’s Cal Flats project and the 240 MWh Megapack installation (there’s no mention of Apple), which can power up to 100,000 homes a year, reducing annual CO2 emissions by 109,000 metric tonnes, equivalent to taking 22,000 cars off the road.

Apple announced this huge solar farm project in March 2021 and didn’t mention Tesla’s Megapacks either (looks like the feeling is mutual).

Earlier this week, Apple announced its suppliers have increased their renewable electricity by 30% last year.

Check out the video below of Cal Flats, which debuts ahead of Earth Day on April 22: