- Cook Government delivering Australia’s largest vanadium battery in Kalgoorlie
- Strong industry backing for Made in Western Australia (WA) battery manufacturing
- Project will deliver local jobs, economic diversification, and strengthen the Goldfields electricity grid
The Cook Government is one step closer to delivering Australia’s largest Vanadium Battery Energy Storage System (VBESS) in Kalgoorlie with strong industry interest in the Stage One of the Expression of Interest (EOI).
With more than 20 responses, there is clear industry willingness to invest in all aspects of the vanadium supply chain in Western Australia.
The VBESS is a landmark project for Kalgoorlie, providing jobs, economic diversification, and strengthening the electricity grid in the Goldfields region.
The government will provide $150 million (USD 105 million) to install a 50-MW / 500 MWh, WA-made vanadium flow battery.
Stage Two of the EOI will seek detailed business cases with the aim of selecting a preferred proponent in mid-2026 to deliver the VBESS.
Recently, the Cook Government applied a 2.5% royalty rate to vanadium products in a move to incentivise production of the critical mineral in WA and encourage its emerging vanadium battery industry.
The Department of Energy and Economic Diversification is assessing responses and will release further details on the next stage shortly.
Comments attributed to Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
“Installing the Vanadium Battery Energy Storage System is a major election commitment under the Cook Government’s Made in WA plan, to diversify the economy, enable Western Australia to become a renewable energy powerhouse, and to make more things here.”
“We want to partner with industry to deliver local content, great jobs, and real value for WA.”
Comments attributed to Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael:
“The strong interest from industry in building the new VBESS follows the State Government’s announcement earlier this month providing clarity around royalties for Western Australia’s emerging vanadium miners and nascent vanadium battery industry.”
“The Cook Government is committed to giving industry the financial confidence and certainty to make the significant investments required to see projects like the VBESS come to fruition.”
Comments attributed to Kalgoorlie MLA Ali Kent:
“It is great to see the strong response to the Cook Government’s plan to establish a new industry in Kalgoorlie-Boulder while also improving to the region’s power reliability.”
“A WA-made vanadium battery and local supply chain will deliver jobs and diversification for the region.”
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.