Coal town to battery base: Firm keen to make regional power move

When one coal-fired power station closes, a green battery gigafactory could open in its place. 

That is the goal of a West Australian company, Auzvolt, that is waiting to hear whether it can set up in the southwest town of Collie and redeploy skilled workers when its power station closes in 2027. 

Representatives from the company say the transition from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy industry is one that could be replicated in other parts of Australia, tapping into a workforce in high demand. 

The move comes after research found demand for workers in the electricity sector could double by 2029, depending on Australia’s renewable energy ambitions. 

Auzvolt is one of the companies that has applied to be part of a renewable energy transition for the West Australian town as part of the state government’s $200 million Collie Industrial Transition Fund. 

The plan involves the region’s Muja C power station closing in 2025, followed by the Collie power station in 2027, with renewable energy firms taking their place.

The transition plan appealed to Auzvolt, chief executive Jordan Prainito said, for its potential to give the company access to a large number of trained electrical specialists. 

“It is about helping Collie transition away from being a primarily coal-fired industry town,” he told AAP. 

“But we obviously need power technicians and people who understand power so there are a lot of synergies there around workforce.”

The company, based in Perth, plans to open a battery gigafactory that will scale up from repackaging battery cells produced overseas to locally manufacturing five gigawatts of battery storage by 2027. 

At full scale, the factory could employ 750 local workers, Mr Prainito said, and provide large batteries for mining firms’ micro grids, as well as smaller models for household solar energy storage. 

The batteries will be produced using environmentally friendly technology from Hong Kong firm GRST which won The Earthshot Prize in 2023. 

The process uses a water-soluble composite to bind battery elements together, Auzvolt chief operating office Michael Yap said, which makes the batteries slightly cheaper to produce and allows them to be broken down for recycling more easily.

“For us, it’s not just a mission driven by a green message,” he said. 

“This translates into real economics, both at a production level and also when we need to recover and reuse those materials again.”

Mr Prainito said the company expected to hear the outcome of its grant application within days. 

Demand for batteries is expected to increase by 30 per cent worldwide each year until 2030, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and skilled workers in the electricity sector will be highly sought after. 

Research from the University of Technology Sydney recently forecast jobs in the electricity sector to double by 2029, representing an increase of 33,000 workers. 

Source: AAP