Australian Coal Investor to Establish Lithium-Ion Battery Factory in Philippines

Workers at a factory for Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co., which makes lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, on March 12, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

An Australian energy billionaire will build a A$10 million lithium-ion battery factory in the Philippines in an effort to join the global renewable energy transition.

Trevor St.Baker, former coal investor and founder of the St Baker Energy Innovation Fund (StBEIF) and Chairman of Delta Electricity, inked the deals to establish the facility this week, with commercial production planned to commence in early 2024.

The factory, which is expected to hire 150 Filippino workers, will be based in New Clark City, a planned community currently undergoing development in Tarlac province, Philippines. It will supply batteries for energy storage, electric vehicle charging stations and small electric vehicles for countries such as Australia, the U.S, India and the Asia-Pacific region.

The factory is forecasted to reach a capacity of 1.2 gigawatt-hours by 2030.

Mr. St.Baker said the facility would be a crucial supplier of solar energy storage. The energy entrepreneur added that it would benefit millions of businesses and households and could also be used to power the growing electric vehicle market, which was predicted to surpass a valuation of A$1 billion (US$690 billion) by 2028, according to a report by Extrapolate.

“StB Giga-Factory is positioned to capture the once-in-a-century transition towards a renewable energy electricity system in which lithium-ion batteries are expected to play a pivotal role,” he said.

“Our battery products will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve fuel independence, improve electricity reliability [and] decrease the grid reliance for EV charging at peak system demand times.”

The factory is one of the projects by Mr. St. Baker, who previously invested in renewable energy and electric vehicle projects, including charging provider Evie Network and hard manufacturer Tritium.

The move comes amid growing investment in lithium-ion batteries, with the sector expected to grow from $96.62 billion (US$65.9 billion) in 2021 to $400 billion (US$273.8 billion) in 2030, according to a research report published by Spherical Insights and Consulting.

In Australia, the increasing adoption of electric cars, which accounted for 8.8 percent of new car sales in the country during this June, is fuelling demand for lithium-ion batteries. At the same time, the share of renewables in total electricity in 2021 reached 29 percent in 2021, the highest on record.

Lithium Poses Risk to the Environment

A study released in March by Future Battery Industries Co-operative Research Centre predicted demand for lithium-ion batteries to rise by 28 percent between 2020 and 2030 - outperforming earlier estimates.

Despite its rising popularity, some experts have warned about the danger that lithium-ion battery pose to the environment, especially during its extraction and discarding phases.

According to the UL Research Institutes, the extraction processes of lithium-ion batteries, which are either open-pit mined or brine extracted, can cause erosion and pollution.

“In order to make way for an open pit, vegetation must be cleared away. Then, a deep pit is dug. Together, these factors create conditions for erosion. Mining can create toxic soils and dust with high concentrations of heavy metals. These dusts become contaminants that put people and animals at a higher risk of illness,” the Institute said.

“Brine extraction drains water from natural underground reserves of drinking water. This water is depleted from the ecosystem more quickly than it can be replaced through the water cycle. Brine extraction also requires toxic chemicals to process lithium. The release of these chemicals harms air, soil, and water quality.”

Further, the think tank pointed out that when lithium-ion batteries are disposed of, they become electronic waste, which is one of the world’s “most pressing issues for environmental and human health by the United Nations.”

“Much electronic waste is not disposed of properly; rather than being dismantled professionally, devices wind up in commercial waste or landfills, or unsafely deconstructed or burned to harvest small valuable components.”

“The batteries disposed of in commercial waste and landfills can be inadvertently shorted and cause a large fire in those areas which are extremely difficult to control due to the large amount of combustible waste that they are mixed with.”

AAP contributed to this report.