BY ISABEL EVERETT
The Hunter will become home to $28 million, 4,000 square metre Lithium Ion Battery Factory.
Located at Tomago, the Energy Renaissance, 'Renaissance One' plant is expected to create around over 1,700 direct jobs during the construction and operational phase, and another 6,500 indirect jobs.
The company produces batteries that are optimised to perform in hot climates and can can be used to power infrastructure, buildings, businesses and homes.
“We have settled on Tomago as the site of our first plant, construction will commence and the plant is scheduled for completion in 2021,” said Mark Chilcote, Managing Director of Energy Renaissance.
“The Hunter region has all the right skills, natural resources, expertise and an abundance in solar energy for us to develop a successful battery manufacturing business in Australia,” Chilcote said.
It’s expected that more than half of the batteries produced at Renaissance One will be exported through the Port of Newcastle.
Patron
Senator for the Hunter Region Hollie Hughes congratulated Energy Renaissance on
its investment in the Hunter during a ground-breaking ceremony at the Tomago
site on Tuesday.
“Energy Renaissance will make clean and affordable energy more accessible and create greater energy security for Australia and our neighbouring countries.
“Once Renaissance One is operating at capacity, it will be able to provide - in the space of a year - enough batteries to power every public school, hospital, fire station, SES unit and new homes built in Australia."
“That’s reassuring because Australia will be able to rely on its own source of renewable energy in the very near future,” Senator Hughes said.
Hughes said that the company’s investment in the local economy will support the Hunter region and help lead Australia’s economic recovery.
"I would like to encourage other manufacturers to move to the area to create a renewable energy manufacturing hub."
“With its deep-water port and proximity to the Newcastle University there is no better location for renewable energy manufacturers.”
Chilcote said that building Renaissance One at Tomago will provide significant competitive advantages to Energy Renaissance.
“Access to the Port of Newcastle will allow us to ship our batteries to Southeast Asia while working with highly-skilled talent from CSIRO’s Energy Centre and graduates from the University of Newcastle.”
With its new site, Energy Renaissance will leverage Australia’s abundance of natural resources by adding value to raw materials, building onshore capability, and exporting into global markets," said Dr Jens Goennemann, Managing Director of AMGC.
"This in-turn will generate significant local manufacturing jobs and boost prosperity for the nation while giving Australia a significant foothold in the growing energy storage sector.”
The facility will be constructed by local property developer ATB Morton and have an initial battery production capacity of 66MWh per annum.
Energy Renaissance plans to scale its Australian operation to 5.3GWh of energy storage per annum with an additional investment of more than $200 million.
The Federal Government provided a co-funded grant of $246,625 through the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre to Energy Renaissance.
Mark Chilcote, Energy Renaissance Managing Director
