The Queensland Government will invest $15 million to expand the National Battery Testing Centre (NBTC) in Banyo on Brisbane’s northside, bolstering the state’s position in the energy storage revolution.
Cameron Dick, Queensland’s Treasurer and Minister for Trade and Investment, said the NBTC tests a variety of battery systems in real-world scenarios and will be critical to the state’s battery manufacturing expansion.
“Energy storage is the key to unlocking Queensland’s renewable energy revolution. It also represents a chance to build new manufacturing capacity in Queensland, supporting more secure, skilled jobs,” the Treasurer said.
“As we progress towards our 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030, we want to ensure Queenslanders benefit from the thousands of jobs that will be created in the batteries sector as part of the global transition to a low carbon future.
“This investment underlines that the state has a strong role to play in battery supply chains both domestically and globally. The development of a responsible battery industry is paramount to Australia’s carbon-reduction efforts.”
Minister for Energy, Renewables and Hydrogen Mick de Brenni said the $15 million investment reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to “establishing energy independence by detaching Queensland energy prices from global impacts”.
“What the challenges in the National Energy Market show is that as we move to a more diversified energy system, batteries are absolutely critical to keeping prices low,” Mr de Brenni continued.
“Today’s investment in new technology will help capture Queensland’s incredible solar resources and put them into the grid during the peak period each morning and evening.
“Queensland’s publicly-owned power companies are already investing in more than 430MW of batteries with more to come.”
The $15 million investment in the NBTC is expected to leverage up to $35 million in university and business funding over the next five years, bringing the total capital injection to over $50 million.
NBTC is a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology, the state and federal governments, and industry.
It does validation and safety testing on all sorts of batteries with diverse chemistries, including lithium-ion and bigger redox flow batteries, whether they are built in Australia or abroad.
This allows battery systems to be deployed to fulfill Queensland’s rapidly growing large-scale energy storage requirements, positioning Queensland-based battery producers as industry leaders.
