Australia’s first commercial-scale 3.2 GWh manufacturing plant for long-duration energy storage (LDES) system iron-flow batteries, being built by Australian-owned Energy Storage Industries (ESI) Asia Pacific has received a Queensland government commitment of $25 million (USD 17.2 million) and $40 million in private investment.
Early works have begun at the Maryborough, Queensland site, 260 kilometres north of Brisbane and is expected to be fully operational by mid-2029 with Brisbane-based ESI scaling up its capabilities via a partnership with United-States based ESS Inc.
ESS, Inc will manufacture and import the core components for the ESI system’s assembly in Queensland, ready for distribution across the Asia Pacific region.
Iron flow technology has already been deployed by ESI at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and by one of the state’s energy generator Stanwell Corporation’s Clean Energy Hub in Rockhampton with the option to purchase an additional 200 MW per year through 2029.
In addition, utility Energy Queensland has committed to purchasing $12 million of iron flow systems for initial projects on their distribution grid.
ESI Asia Pacific Managing Director Stuart Parry said the company is a manufacturer of proven grid-scale battery technology that solves the problem of how to provide renewable grid-scale energy overnight.
“Thanks to this far-sighted support from the Queensland Treasury and private investors, the first production of Australian-made grid-scale batteries will take place in Queensland by the end of 2025,” Parry said.
“ESI is targeting the delivery of 400 MW of energy storage annually from 2029 – enough to power a city the size of Toowoomba each year and importantly, key battery components will be sourced from throughout Queensland, supporting businesses and creating skilled jobs in local communities.”
Energy Storage Industries
ESS Inc Chief Executive Officer Eric Dresselhuys said the investments provide a clear validation, by both the financial community and Queensland government, that iron flow technology will play a critical role in the clean energy future.
“We look forward to our continued partnership as we expand our manufacturing capacity to meet growing, global demand for long-duration energy storage,” Dresselhuys said.
The Queensland government’s investment is part of the $570 million Queensland Battery Industry Strategy 2024-2029.
Queensland Deputy Premier, Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment Cameron Dick said most importantly the investment supports new technology and manufacturing jobs, creating more than 270 highly skilled jobs in regional Queensland.
“Through investments like this we meet our own future clean energy storage needs and take advantage of the massive export opportunities.”
The investment in ESI and iron flow technology follows a financing package of up to $72.5 million to ESS by the Export Import Bank of the United States which ESS will use to scale the manufacture and global distribution of iron flow technology.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.