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points by jonatron 18 hours ago | 0 comments

Obviously there are a variety of sizes and configurations, but if you assumed 3.5MWh per 20ft container, that's 5771 containers, and if you assumed a PCS container per two battery container, that's 8656 containers, just for an idea of the scale.

[–] universa1 18 hours ago

and then it's roughly just a rectangle of 100 by 100 containers, still big, but maybe not sooo big :-)

[–] blahgeek 18 hours ago

or a cube of 20x20x20 containers, seems small enough. (funny how we interpret numbers and sizes

[–] myself248 18 hours ago

I've always wondered why they don't stack them in deployment -- the containers are obviously fine with it! -- but I guess land is cheap enough not to bother.

Horizontally they need plenty of room for airflow, as each container has some HVAC-or-whatever module on the side. But vertically...

[–] jcattle 18 hours ago

I always thought they were spread apart so much to further reduce the chance of catastrophic spread of fire from one container to another.

That would be a lot harder if you stack them since heat likes to rise.

But no clue if that is the actual reason.

[–] myself248 18 hours ago

Yeah, that's probably part of it. Some do have explosion vents in the top of the container.

It'd just be impressive to see a giant wall of battery. A bunch of little batteries camping in a field doesn't play the same visually. Ah well.

[–] chickenbig 17 hours ago

Foundations, maintenance, fire risk.

Land is cheap relative to a container full of cells.

[–] 0cf8612b2e1e 13 hours ago

They are pretty heavy and batteries already need to do adequate foundation work before installation.

[–] ksec 18 hours ago

I would assume it has something to do with fire hazard ?