Energy Renaissance close to opening battery Giga-factory

Australia’s first lithium-ion battery Giga-factory is a step closer to commencing operations with the successful completion of a pilot plant program supported by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre.

Energy Renaissance (ER) now operates at their pilot facility, dubbed Apollo, at Tomago in the Hunter Valley, NSW producing up to 4MWh of batteries per month and serving customers across Australia.

Founder of Energy Renaissance Brian Craighead said: “Just a few years ago we were told it wasn’t possible to manufacture in Australia. Today, in the shadow of our soon-to-be-completed Renaissance One facility (pictured), I can tell you that it is absolutely possible to manufacture in Australia.

“With the support of organisations such as AMGC and our partners, we have been able to develop a world-leading lithium-ion battery for domestic and export use and soon, we hope to expand the impact of this program to add value to Australia’s abundant raw materials by embarking on cell manufacture.”

The pilot facility was designed to develop, test and document the technology, systems and processes and commence operations to supply to customers ahead of full-scale manufacture.

Completion of the pilot program is a crucial step in ER’s scale-up program before its moves into its custom-designed, 4,500-square-metre ‘Renaissance One’ manufacturing facility at Tomago, NSW.

The full-scale facility will house over 700 employees and initially produce up to 300 Mega-watt hours of energy storage annually, scaling to 5.3 Gigawatt Hours, or 5.3 billion watts, of energy storage per year via its unique battery system.

Formed in 2015, ER will offer safe and affordable lithium-ion batteries, optimised for a low total cost of ownership in hot climates to satisfy rising domestic and export demand for grid-scale, lithium-ion battery storage systems.

Leveraging local suppliers and supply chains, ER’s aim is to offer products that are as close to 100 percent Australian content as possible, with the company already at 92 percent.

AMGC managing director Dr Jens Goennemann said “Energy Renaissance is proof positive that Australia can be a world leader in the renewable energy industry. Energy Renaissance’s approach typifies how we should be seeking to move away from our reliance on raw commodities and tap into our abundant human, commodities and manufacturing prowess to transform it into complex goods for local and export markets.

“Energy Renaissance didn’t stop when they developed a battery for hot and humid climates, they embarked on commercialising the technology and we are pleased to have been there to assist them – they are a shining light for others to follow.”

Completion of the pilot-facility program follows on from an earlier AMGC co-invested project where ER and CSIRO first developed a proprietary battery system (‘superRack and superPack’), which is a unique plug-and-play prismatic cell system.

This is combined with the Renaissance BMS which is a CSIRO-developed cyber-secure battery management system comprising custom circuit boards, software, and wiring gives ER a competitive advantage in the global battery market.

ER’s superStorage products will be the first lithium-ion battery energy storage system and battery management system committed to all Australian materials to be manufactured in Australia, with the company already supplying batteries to local customers for use in industrial and commercial applications.

Its SuperStorage platform will monitor, benchmark and self-diagnose battery performance autonomously and efficiently, supported by human intervention to develop customer specifications and deliver customer service.

The collaborative project, worth $1.47 million, was supported through a $525,072 co-investment administered by AMGC and matched by Energy Renaissance, with project partners CSIRO, ATB Morton and Maccor contributing a further $427,681.

Energy Renaissance forecast $95.7 million in revenue directly related to the pilot scale project (excluding the larger Renaissance One facility) over the next 5 years.

Picture: AMGC