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Batteries gigafactory

Published on October 29th, 2014 | by James Ayre

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Tesla Motors Deal For Nevada Gigafactory Land Concluded

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October 29th, 2014 by  

Though Tesla Motors had already begun construction at the 980-acre site east of Reno where the Gigafactory is being built, the land didn’t actually belong to the company until a few days ago, when the deal for the land was finally concluded.

As per the arrangement between Tesla and the state of Nevada, the EV overlord is actually getting the land for free — as part of the $1.3-billion package of economic-development incentives that lured Tesla to the state rather than to one of the other contending states.

gigafactory

As it stands, the Gigafactory is currently set to be completed by 2020 — and will produce somewhere around 500,000 lithium-ion battery packs a year (cutting battery costs by more than 30%) once up and running. Most (if not all) of the battery packs produced will be shipped to the nearby Tesla auto-assembly plant in Fremont, California, for use in the company’s hotter than hot electric vehicle lineup.

While the Gigafactory won’t be complete until 2020, production at the facility is expected to begin in 2017, with peak production then being achieved at completion in 2020. Altogether, the plant is expected to cost $5 billion to develop.

The closure of the deal was confirmed by Lance Gilman, a principal and partner with the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, in an interview with Fortune — the papers were apparently filed in the Storey County courthouse.


 

Here are some moredetails:

Legally, the giant industrial park, which Gilman manages, is giving the 980-acre gigafactory parcel to Tesla. But as part of the deal, the state of Nevada is paying the park’s owners $43 million for right-of-way to extend a four-lane road through the complex to US Highway 50, a major interstate. Gilman has sought the extension, which will cut travel times to and from the industrial park and open up thousands of acres for development, for more than 15 years. “That’s our reward,” Gilman told Fortune. “It’s going to happen. It’s because of Tesla that we’re willing to work this particular transaction.”

The state will also pay for construction of the road, called USA Parkway, at an estimated cost of $70 million. The extension is scheduled for completion by December 2017. In addition, Tesla has options to purchase another 9,000 adjacent acres, including 7,000 acres for a wind-farm with the potential to produce about 140 MW of electricity, according to Gilman.

According to Musk, Tesla plans to supply all the power needed for the facility itself through exploitation of renewable resources, such as geothermal energy, solar energy, and wind energy. The aim is, according to the Tesla CEO, for the battery plant to be a “net zero-energy factory.”

Presumably, SolarCity will play a part in powering the facility in some regard — especially considering the company’s recent move into solar panel manufacturing.

Image Credit: Tesla Motors

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About the Author

's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy. You can follow his work on Google+.


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  • Larry

    Elon Musk may just show American businessmen how to build a sustainable industry yet

  • Steve Grinwis

    A 7000 acre wind farm, feels like it should produce more than 140 MW…

    • Humberto Jimenez

      “A 7000 acre wind farm, feels like it should produce more than 140 MW… ”

      A typical wind farm will have about 15 wind turbines per 1,000 acres.
      Each wind turbine will generate about 500 kW of power (assuming 33% capacity factor).

      So 1,000 acres will produce 15 x 500 kW = 7,500 kW of electricity per
      hour, which equates to about 65,700 MW per year. 65,700 x 7 = 459,900
      MW or 459.9 GW.

      If you take 65,700 (MW) / 365 (days in a year) = 180 MW per day.Meaning that Gilman is being conservative with his 140 MW a day calculation.

      • Steve Grinwis

        Please differentiate between kW and kWh. One is a unit of power, the other is a unit of energy. 140 MW per day states that 140 MW of new turbine is being installed or removed per day, not that 140 MWh of power is being generated per day.

        Your post is nigh indecipherable, with unintelligible math and logic scattered all over the place.

        For comparison though, the 9000 acre Alta Wind Energy center wind farm is 9000 acres. It has 1320 MW nameplate capacity, which is the only measurement that makes sense to report in this instance. I’d expect a 7000 Acre wind farm to have something like 1000 MW of nameplate, not 140 MW. Makes me wonder if they missed a zero.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alta_Wind_Energy_Center

    • Wayne Williamson

      Steve, watch those decimal places. A sq mile contains 640 acres.

      • Steve Grinwis

        I’m not seeing where anyone mentions sq miles except for your comment…

        Am I missing something?

        • Wayne Williamson

          my bad, I skip over the italics. The main gist was 7000 acres is around 11 sq miles and the 980 acres for the plant is just over 1.1 sq miles, ie the factor of 10. You are correct on the 1gw for the area. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t push solar….

          • Steve Grinwis

            Ahh…I thought the plant itself was going to have solar on it

  • EnTill

    Well, that piece of desert probably wasn’t worth much anyway

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