BP to store wind power with help from Tesla

BP will enter the battery power boom in a new project to store wind power using Tesla technology later this year. The company will team up with the world’s largest battery storage company to build a pilot project alongside its Titan wind project in South Dakota. The 25MW wind farm will top up the stored electricity in a Tesla battery with an energy capacity of 840 kilowatt hours capable of producing 212 kilowatts of power. The project is expected to launch in the second half of 2018 to help make BP’s growing US wind power portfolio more reliable. BP has over 13 wind farms in the US with a total capacity of around 2.26GW, making it one of the largest renewable energy businesses of any major oil and gas group. The group has also returned to solar power by buying a stake in Lightsourse.  Lighthouse BP will sit within its Alternative Energy business alongside investments in wind energy, biofuels and biopower as part of BP’s shift towards lower carbon energy. Battery power is part of the group’s plan to spend half a billion dollars every year on developing projects to boost its established renewables portfolio as well as in new areas such as mobility and digital technologies, and managing carbon emission.