Standing in a paddock at the back of an industrial area near Newcastle, Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared the site would soon be the first advanced manufacturing facility of lithium-ion batteries in Australia. "In the Hunter, they're building the future on this site, with lithium-ion batteries," he said. Energy Renaissance plans to start constructing the $70 million battery plant at Tomago within weeks and it should be operational by October. Although plans unveiled last year suggested the plant would require a workforce of 1,200, a greater use of automation means the total jobs will be closer to 100.Batteries set to power homes, industry and public transport Energy Renaissance managing director Mark Chilcote said the batteries would be specially designed to operate in hot climates."We're going to start manufacturing lithium-ion batteries in a temporary facility, also in Tomago, we'll start that in July," he said. "The batteries that come out of that are low cost, they're extremely safe, but more importantly they're designed for the hot climates of Australia and South-East Asia. "Their purpose will be static storage, so industrial/commercial, houses and heavy vehicles, so buses, trains, trams. "Initially we import the materials into Australia, so we're very focused on Australian raw materials. "Australia is the only country in the world that has 100 per cent of mined raw materials here. "Unfortunately at this point we don't value-add them to battery-grade material. "So we're very interested in working with both industry and government in proving up that supply chain and being a catalyst for that supply chain. "Resources roadmap launch The Prime Minister used the visit to launch his government's new 10-year roadmap outlining how businesses can capitalise on Australia's access to resources and critical minerals. Mr Morrison said he was excited to see the battery plant on track. "It is a sovereign and strategic priority for Australia to ensure we are hardwired into this supply chain around the world and a supply chain that Australia and our partners can rely on. "These rare earths and critical minerals are what literally pulls together the technology we'll be relying on into the future."
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