Tesla locks in Australian site for new battery refurbishment facility
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One of Australia’s largest battery storage facilities will soon house Tesla’s new service and refurbishment centre, designed to renew high-voltage components.
Tesla will build its latest battery refurbishment facility – designed for service, repair, and restoration – about 200km south of Perth in the mining town of Collie, Western Australia.
The new factory is expected to service a wide assortment of high-voltage Tesla products, including batteries in vehicles such as the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X, and Roadster, as well as the brand's Powerwall home and Megapack commercial units.
Initially covering local batteries, it is expected to expand to cover the wider South-East Asia region in future.
The site will be built at French renewable energy company Neoen's already-announced battery storage facility, with a completion date expected later this year.
The new facility will be powered by 560 Tesla Megapacks for a total storage capacity of 2250MWh, making it one of the largest battery sites in Australia.
The location of Collie is also significant, as it is where WA's last remaining coal-fired power generators are operational.
The fossil-fuel-burning generators are expected to be shut down by the end of the decade in a transition to renewable energy sources.
The facility will also reportedly employ up to 50 local workers.
Western Australia Energy Minister Reece Whitby said at the announcement that "it makes sense that Tesla is here".
"We have one of the world's biggest standalone electricity grids in the south-west … 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.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between WA Premier Roger Cook and Tesla Motors Australia in December, with the former stating the deal will ensure Collie's place as an energy hub for the state.
"This partnership is a great win for WA and particularly for Collie, supporting local jobs servicing batteries from not just our state but potentially the wider Asia-Pacific region," Cook said.
"Collie has been the heart of our energy system for the past century, and projects like this mean Collie will have a bright future as WA transitions away from coal."
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