Indian-born British billionaire plans to break Tesla’s record for world’s biggest battery

The world’s most powerful lithium-ion battery was built last year by Elon Musk’s Tesla at the Hornsdale Power Reserve. But it looks like a new project could soon steal its place in the record books. 

An Indian-born British businessman, Sanjeev Gupta has plans to build a 120 megawatt/140 megawatt-hour battery, beating out the 100 megawatt/129 megawatt-hour battery by Tesla in Jamestown, South Australia.

Billionaire Gupta bought a steelworks in Whyalla, South Australia, last August through his Liberty House firm and intends to power it with a 200-megawatt solar farm, hence the need for world-leading battery to store the energy. The solar farm will be constructed by Gupta’s GFG Alliance’s clean energy company – Simec Zen Energy. 

For the project, the South Australian government has put up a $7.8 million loan to aid the battery's construction as it will assist the state's local grid stability.

The South Australia region currently depends on solar and wind for 50% of its power, and considering this is the second big-scale power project in South Australia in recent months, it's evident that they are determined to pursue renewable energy seriously.

Sudhanshu Singh

Sudhanshu Singh have been working in tech journalism as a reporter, writer, editor, and reviewer for over 5 years. He has reviewed hundreds of products ranging across categories and have also written opinions, guides, feature articles, news, and analysis. Ditching the norm of armchair journalism in tech media, Sudhanshu dug deep into how emerging products and services affect actual users, and what marks they leave on our cultural landscape.
His areas of expertise along with writing and editing include content strategy, daily operations, product and team management.