German battery giant Sonnen to create more than 450 manufacturing jobs at new factory on old Holden site

GERMAN battery giant Sonnen will create more than 450 jobs at a new factory on the old Holden site at Elizabeth, ahead of an expected rapid take-up of home storage across SA.

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GERMAN battery giant Sonnen will create more than 450 jobs at a new factory on the old Holden site at Elizabeth, ahead of an expected rapid take-up of home storage across SA.

Premier Steven Marshall on Sunday announced the major investment, which bears striking resemblance to plans announced by his predecessor ahead of the state election in March.

Sonnen says it will move rapidly to start assembling its battery technology in Adelaide, at a site that will become its Australian headquarters and shipping centre for the Asian region.

It expects to assemble and manufacture 50,000 storage systems in Adelaide over five years.

The announcement comes after the State Government revealed details for its subsidised home battery scheme, which starts next month and aims to deliver 40,000 units in four years.

The plan seeks to avoid blackouts and bring down power prices, as homes with batteries and solar make and consume their own power while leaving more in the system for others to use.

Mr Marshall said South Australians “love our rooftop solar”, which already had some of the largest take-up rates in the world, and the new jobs announcement was “great news”.

“We do have fantastic renewable energy in SA ... but it’s not always available when you need to use it,” he said. “That’s why batteries are such an important part.

“We are just at the very start of the rollout of more and more battery storage worldwide.

“Batteries are going to lower consumer costs.

“Ultimately, batteries will not require subsidies going forward.

“In more and more instances where you have solar rooftop, you will definitely be getting a battery because of the economics for the individual families.”

It is understood taxpayers will underwrite the sale of a minimum amount of Sonnen batteries, with costs to be covered if sales fall below that number of units, in a “volume guarantee”.

Sonnen chief executive Christoph Ostermann said his company was making a “clear commitment” to an energy market which would become one of the world’s most important.

“We have a very good base of skilled workforce here, a lot of manufacturing experience and also a very unique energy market,” he said. “These are long-term jobs, absolutely.”

Mr Ostermann said the factory would begin with 150 jobs, growing to more than 450.

“We want to get this started immediately,” he said. “We have been preparing this for months.

“We are not talking about now in five years, we’re talking from now in five weeks.”

Sonnen has ambitions to create a virtual power plant, where oversupply from batteries is sent back into the grid on days of high demand, and already has a similar operation in Germany.

A combined 50,000 battery virtual power plant can supply up to 150MW to the grid.

Former premier Jay Weatherill in February held a press conference with Sonnen to announce its plans for a battery production plant in Adelaide, creating 430 manufacturing jobs.

Opposition energy spokesman and former minister Tom Koutsantonis said the new Government had reannounced his plan, while contradicting itself over not “picking winners”.

“Sonnen are in SA because both political parties at the last state election were offering very large subsidies for people to put batteries on their homes,” he said on Sunday.

“Using Government money to grow the economy is exactly what we need to be doing in SA.

“Had we not made the approach to Sonnen last year, this announcement wouldn’t be made.

“In small states like ours, you absolutely need to use your balance sheet to bring businesses.

“You can’t just take your hands off the wheel.”

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