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Massive Tesla battery on fire at renewable energy plant in Australia

A toxic smoke warning has been issued near Geelong, Victoria, as fire crews wait for the blaze to die down.

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Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.
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Tesla battery fire in Geelong, Australia
ABC/Screenshot by Nick Hide/CNET

A Tesla battery has burst into flames during testing at the site of the southern hemisphere's largest battery project.

A 13-metric-ton lithium battery caught fire on Friday at the renewable energy plant, called the Victorian Big Battery, near Geelong, about 50 miles from Melbourne. The blaze then spread to an adjacent battery bank, Australia's ABC reports, but has since been contained.

A toxic smoke warning has been issued in the area. Fire crews will have to wait up to 24 hours for the blaze to die down.

The site is the second Tesla battery project Down Under, following the 2017 installation in South Australia, a facility which Tesla CEO Elon Musk called the "world's largest" at the time. 

Tesla does not operate a public relations department to field requests for comment.