Tesla is a big name in electric cars — but their batteries are on the brink of changing commercial property, too.

In a U.K. industry-first, Manchester Science Partnerships has invested more than £400K in its advanced energy strategy including a Tesla Powerpack system outside the 70K SF Bright Building, at Manchester Science Park.

The move will help insulate MSP from shifting commercial tariffs and escalating non-commodity prices, while also allowing it to substantially reduce its carbon footprint through wider use of renewable energy.

The Tesla Powerpack also allows MSP to offer customers operating in R&D-heavy sectors resilience and business continuity.

It can kick in in less than a second should primary power fail — a marked improvement on previous industry norms of up to 30 minutes.

The Powerpack system at the Bright Building has been installed with four Powerpacks and one inverter. It is a flexible, scalable battery system, with, in this case, the ability to have up to 16 additional Powerpacks added to it if the requirements for the building increase on a power and/or energy level. 

The MSP move comes as battery technology begins to make an impact on commercial real estate.

The North West is one of the peak conflict zones in a national battle for battery storage sites, with as many as 600 sites in the region thought to be sought.

Typically looking for open sites of 2 to 4 acres, but also prepared to look at existing industrial buildings, these sites use improved battery technology to smooth out the peaks and troughs in electricity supply and demand.

By buying electricity in low-priced periods and reselling it when demand is high, operators turn a profit, and provide a carbon-neutral replacement for gas-fired power stations — the old technology that was previously used to smooth out supply in the national grid.

It is a fast-growing global sector predicted to reach revenue of $400B by 2030.

Larger-scale battery sites are appearing around the region: energy company Ørsted is to build and operate a 20 megawatt battery storage project in Merseyside at Stoneycroft. It well help manage power supply between peaks and troughs, and is their first step into large-scale battery sites. It will open by the end of the year, Move Commercial reports.