Tesla won't deliver batteries until late this summer, but Jackson Family Wines is already using them to slash its peak-demand energy use.
The vast majority of the 49 lush acres at La Crema winery in Windsor, California is covered in uncountable rows of beautiful green Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapevines. But nestled into a small industrial area near the side of one of its fermentation buildings, near the new vending-machine-sized boiler and a whole lot of piping, is a set of what might look to the untrained eye like some sort of electrical transformer.
In fact, these tall, wide, white boxes are three banks of Tesla's new industrial batteries. You'd only know if someone told you (or if you went around the back and found a small sticker with Tesla's logo and some technical information). But unlike the ones in the renderings unveiled in late April by Elon Musk, the CEO of both Tesla Motors and SpaceX (and the chairman of Solar City, the largest provider of solar power in the United States), these are the real thing, part of a pilot project to see how the batteries—freed from the confines of the Tesla automobile—can help businesses with heavy energy needs.
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