United States-headquartered manufacturer Tesla has reached agreement with the Western Australian (WA) government to build a service, repair and renewal facility in the state’s southwest to perform maintenance on its battery products.
The facility is to be built at the site of the Collie battery energy storage project being constructed near the town of the same name about 200 kilometres south of Perth. The battery project is currently in phase two of construction and when complete will deliver a combined 560 MW / 2,240 MWh of energy storage capacity. The project is utilising Tesla’s Megapack technology.
The Tesla re-manufacturing plant is expected to commence operations by 2026 and will initially service the company’s Megapack batteries. It is anticipated that the company will also service its residential Powerwall batteries and electric vehicle (EV) charging equipment at the plant once it is fully established.
Josef Tadich, the regional director of Tesla Energy in the Asia Pacific, said the facility would enable the company to repair and perform maintenance on its utility-scale and residential batteries locally.
“Providing faster support for local customers while reducing logistical costs and emissions,” he said.
WA Energy Minister Reece Whitby said the re-manufacturing plant will be the biggest Tesla facility in Australia and could eventually service the wider Asia-Pacific region.
“We have one of the world’s biggest stand-alone electricity grids in the southwest … we have the biggest grid-scale batteries in Australia, and some of the biggest on the planet being hooked up to that grid,” he said.
“It makes sense that Tesla is here.”
The memorandum of understanding to develop the project was signed in December between WA Premier Roger Cook and Tesla Motors Australia but only announced on Friday.
“They are looking to invest and invest significantly in Western Australia, because they see the potential of our energy transition of Western Australia becoming a renewable energy powerhouse,” Cook said, adding that the new plant “will help to encourage more battery uptake across the state.”
The location in Collie is significant, because it is the home of the state’s last remaining coal-fired generators, which are all due to close by 2030.
It is expected the re-manufacturing facility will employ about 50 people once it has reached full scale.
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