INTHEBLACK August 2025 - Magazine - Page 44
F E AT U R E
“We have all the key minerals [we need] to make batteries
here in Australia, yet we capture less than one per cent of the
global battery value chain. Instead of sending raw materials
elsewhere, we could be building full battery systems here.
LAUREN YABSLEY, ENERGY RENAISSANCE
carbonate equivalent,” he says. “We are likely
to see this imbalance persist for another
two to three years. In this environment,
success will come down to resilience and
whether producers can remain profitable
at today’s lower price levels.”
BETTER BATTERIES,
BUILT FOR AUSTRALIA
The battery sector, particularly in materials
refining and battery-cell production, is
dominated by China. However, that hasn’t
prevented smaller Australian businesses
such as Energy Renaissance from challenging
the status quo by building better batteries
for Australia’s unique climate and
security environment.
Because much of the current battery
technology has been developed in China,
North America and Europe, it is generally
designed for cooler climates. These regions
have more developed infrastructure
environments in which transport and
operating conditions are also not such a
challenge, says Lauren Yabsley, chief corporate
and operating officer at Energy Renaissance.
“Energy Renaissance designed its
battery solutions from the ground-up
with the mindset of ‘How do we optimise
the technology for a hot climate and
challenging operating conditions, and make
it easier to install and maintain the battery,
while unlocking greater battery capacity
performance?’” Yabsley says. “We also
wanted to make sure the batteries were
recyclable and able to be repurposed at
the end of their life.”
“We worked with the Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO) on developing
the technology from both the hardware and
software perspectives with those aims in
mind. Today, our manufacturing facility in
Tomago in the Hunter region of New South
Wales focuses primarily on commercial
and industrial stationary storage applications.
But the technology goes across a raft of
44 INTHEBLACK August 2025
industries, including Australian Defence
Force (ADF) applications, and we recently
announced the continuation of our work with
the CSIRO on a residential battery solution,
Renaissance superHome.”
The remote nature of Australian farms,
agricultural businesses, work sites, mines
and so on means it can be difficult and
expensive to have battery technology
delivered and installed onsite. To solve this
challenge, Energy Renaissance is focusing
on delivering a product solution that is
flexible to site requirements. The pre-wired
design and product form factor means that
once it is forklifted off the delivery truck into
place, it is a quick and simple installation.
Software controlling the performance
of Energy Renaissance battery racks utilises
a thermal management system — a clever
combination of fan placement and software
that controls the cooling system while
monitoring performance — as well as
strict cybersecurity protections that guard
against interference.
“Because we were working with the ADF,
cybersecurity was non-negotiable,” Yabsley
says. “If someone takes control of the battery,
the chemicals within that battery are
obviously highly toxic and can be subject
to thermal runaway events and associated
fire risk.”
WHEN THE BATTERY RUNS OUT
There is a great deal of talk around the likely
life of an EV battery, Yabsley says.
Many believe its life ends at 10 years, but
if the battery is well managed and operated
in the right conditions, it should have many
more years of use.
When a battery is no longer usable, it is
important that everything possible is done
to recycle and reuse. In fact, Bernal says,
the recycling of batteries will become an
important way to obtain lithium.
Amazingly, during the lifecycle of a battery,
the quality and usefulness of the lithium
contained in that cell does not deteriorate.
