Tesla’s Megapacks are intended to support France’s largest battery energy storage system (BESS), which the company began construction of this week.

Harmony Energy has begun construction of the Cheviré 100 MW/200 MWh Megapack battery project in the port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire, France, detailed in a press release shared Thursday. The battery project consists of Tesla’s 2-hour Megapacks and is expected to be able to provide enough electricity to power more than 170,000 homes for two hours.

Harmony aims to complete the project and connect it to the grid by next summer, with the system expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025.

“Developing and operating vital battery energy storage facilities across France will lead to improved energy security, affordable energy bills and the decarbonisation of the grid,” wrote Andy Symonds, CEO of Harmony Energy for the French market. “We are excited to begin construction work on our first project.”

The Cheviré site was formerly home to a coal, gas and oil plant that operated from 1954 to 1986. The press release also highlights Tesla’s Autobidder system, a real-time trading platform developed by the company that is designed to maximize the operator’s long-term revenue.

“It is an exciting location given the historical importance of the fossil fuel coal plant, but looking ahead, the delivery of the Cheviré BESS will transform the site into exactly the opposite, facilitating the green electrification of the French energy system while offsetting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2,” writes Clément Girard, COO of Harmony Energy for France.

Tesla has multiple Megapack projects underway, both operational and under construction. The company recently highlighted another BESS project in California that features 200 MW/800 MWh of Megapacks, and is being built from a former steam plant that operated until 2001.

On Thursday, Tesla announced a massive 15.3 GWh contract with Intersect Power to expand the companies’ current partnership of just 2.4 GWh. The updated commitment is expected to go from concept to operation in just a year and will include 966 MWh of projects across three different locations in Texas.

Tesla is currently building the Megapack at a “Megafactory” in Lathrop, California, and the company is currently ramping up production at the facility. The company has also begun construction on a Megafactory in Shanghai, China, and it aims to produce approximately 10,000 Megapacks per year at each facility once volume production is reached.

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