World’s biggest Lithium-ion battery

Sanjeev Gupta, an Indian-origin British billionaire has revealed plans to build the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery in South Australia. Gupta’s GFG Alliance-owned Simec Zen Energy has agreed to build a 140-megawatt-hour battery, overtaking US billionaire Elon Musk’s 129-megawatt-hours Tesla battery in the same state. Gupta also secured an $8m loan from the Australian government for the project.  

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said the battery would benefit the broader community.  “ We know that more renewable energy means cheaper power, and that’s why we have increased our renewable energy target to 75 per cent and also introduced a new renewable storage target of 25 per cent” Weatherill said. The billionaire Sanjeev Gupta bought a steelworks in South Australian town of Whyalla last August, through his Liberty House company. Gupta’s GFG Alliance the bought a controlling stake in an Adelaide-based clean energy company called Zen Energy, which was then renamed Simec Zen Energy.

The battery will power solar farm to be built at the site of a former steelworks near Adelaide and the renewable technology project is expected to create 100 construction jobs.