Tomago to get lithium ion battery factory






Energy Renaissance has announced that construction will begin at Tomago, NSW at a site it hopes will reach “gigafactory” volumes within the decade.

Renew Economy and others report that Energy Renaissance has announced a $28 million factory at the site of the Tomago smelter. Construction is scheduled to begin within weeks, and the company plans to be producing lithium ion batteries by mid-next year.

“Over 1,700 direct jobs will be created during the construction and operational phase and another 6,500 indirect jobs will be generated for the benefit of the Hunter,” managing director Mark Chilcote said.

“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 cited the nearby deep-water port, Newcastle University and CSIRO Energy Centre as benefits of the location.

The 4,000 square metre facility will be purpose-built by ATB Morton, with a planned initial capacity of 66MWh a year, growing to 5.3GWh a year within the decade. It had previously planed to establish manufacturing at Darwin.

Energy Renaissance is currently in a hot climate battery R&D project backed by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, collaborating with Wuxi LEAD, CSIRO and Cadenza Innovation.

US-based Cadenza is a technology partner to and an investor in Energy Renaissance, which uses Cadenza’s high-tech ceramic battery housing. This is used in thermal management.

Picture: Energy Renaissance

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