The Queensland Government’s battery industry discussion paper reveals that the state will have a battery sector worth $1.3 billion that employs more than 9000 workers by 2030. 

The report was released in the discussion of how the state can innovate on global demand for batteries on the back of decarbonisation efforts, as the demand for battery capacity is expected to grow to 2045 gigawatt hours by 2030. 

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Acting Premier Steven Miles visited the construction site of ESI Asia Pacific’s lithium-ion plant in Maryborough to launch the report. 

“We want to know how we can support more projects like this one, so we’ve facilitated this project in all sorts of different ways through getting utilities and services to land provision of land easements, roads, in conjunction with the council and some support from state government funding,” he said. 

“The discussion paper is all about finding out what else we need to do. What are the opportunities for Queensland and how do we access those?” 

According to the report, the state has the potential to rival China’s battery sector in refining raw materials, making lithium-ion cells, assembling battery packs and recycling batteries. 

“The biggest opportunities for Queensland lie at the intersection of the most attractive markets and the areas where Queensland has the strongest capabilities,” the discussion paper said. 

“The most attractive battery value chain opportunities lie in lithium-ion batteries, which is the dominant technology other than lead-acid batteries.” 

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The report said the state government should focus on supporting the battery pack assembly industry in the short term by co-investing with larger manufacturing firms in the up-front capital costs of battery manufacturing projects, incentivising them to locate in Queensland to accelerate state production capacity. 

Departments could prioritise local content when buying batteries for the grid and government transport fleets and the government could develop a Queensland battery brand for local and overseas markets. 

The paper suggested the government establish a research and development hub to allow academia and the industry to collaborate and offer battery-specific education courses across VET and university programs. 

With AAP 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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