Battery maker Sonnen to set up factory in S Australia

German energy storage company Sonnen will set up an Australian headquarters and manufacturing centre in South Australia.

The state government announced on Sunday that Sonnen will start assembling its home battery technology in Adelaide and expects to then move to manufacturing the batteries.

The manufacturing centre will be located at the former GM Holden site in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth and will serve as Sonnen's main shipping point for Australia and the Asia and South Pacific region, said Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment David Ridgway.

The government estimates that the assembly and production of 50,000 energy storage systems in Adelaide over the next five years will lead to the creation of some 430 manufacturing and installation jobs in the state.

The news comes a day after the government announced that its Home Battery Scheme will open in October with AUD 100 million (USD 71m/EUR 61m) available to subsidise the installation of home battery systems by 40,000 households. The federal government's Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide a AUD-100-million funding package to support the scheme.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.713/EUR 0.614)

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