What Tesla claims is the world’s largest lithium ion battery has been switched on in South Australia.

The 100MW energy storage facility started providing power on Thursday, a day ahead of its official activation on Friday.

This was driven by hot weather driving up usage of air conditioning units, which consume a lot of power.

The battery was installed after Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a bet it could be built within 100 days, following news the region was struggling to solve problems with its overloaded power grid.

Tesla claims it is three times more powerful than the world’s next biggest battery.

The technology firm recently unveiled the prototype of its first electric truck – however, analysts suggest it could require the equivalent power used by up to 4,000 homes to recharge.

• Australia, Low Carbon, Tesla, battery storage, lithium ion