Tomago: Renaissance One, battery manufacturing facility, to lead Australia’s economic recovery
Renaissance One at Tomago, which 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.
Newcastle
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A new $28 million battery manufacturing facility is set to be built in the Hunter, creating thousands of local jobs for the region.
Energy Renaissance, Australia’s first lithium-ion battery manufacturer, will build the state-of-the-art Renaissance One facility at Tomago, which 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.
The 4000sqm purpose-built facility will have an initial battery production capacity of 66 mega watts per annum, with plans to scale its Australian operation to 5.3 giga watts of energy storage per annum, with an additional investment of more than $200 million.
Managing Director of Energy Renaissance Mark Chilcote said the Hunter was the perfect location.
“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,” Mr Chilcote said.
“Over 1700 direct jobs will be created during the construction and operational phase and another 6500 indirect jobs will be generated for the benefit of the Hunter.”
And, it’s expected more than half of the batteries produced will be exported through the Port of Newcastle.
“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,” he added.
Patron Senator for the Hunter Region Hollie Hughes has applauded the massive investment in the local economy, which will help support the Hunter and lead Australia’s economic recovery.
“Energy Renaissance will make clean and affordable energy more accessible and create greater energy security for Australia and our neighbouring countries,” she said.
“Australia will be able to rely on its own source of renewable energy in the very near future.”
Construction is set to be completed in 2021.
Dr Jens Goennermann, Managing Director of the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) said Energy Renaissance will leverage Australia’s abundance of natural resources by adding value to raw materials, building onshore capability, and exporting into global markets.
“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,” she said.