“The single biggest opportunity for Australia is to enhance and pivot our relationship with China,” Tim Buckley, director of think tank Climate Energy Finance (CEF), tells ESN Premium ahead of Solar Media’s Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025.
Buckley believes Australia’s positive trade relations with China will increase the investability prospects in the country’s energy storage market, which could prove vital in Australia’s shift to a green economy.
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“To me, the single biggest opportunity for Australia is to enhance and pivot our relationship with China. We export 95% of our lithium to China. We have strong bridges between Australia and China,” Buckley says.
“We need to enhance and pivot them so that we are complementary to China’s development of the world’s leading battery manufacturing systems.”
Australia could provide natural resources and R&D to battery tech from China
Indeed, China and Australia’s geographical positioning makes them likely economic allies in the renewable energy space. Australian research and development (R&D) in energy storage and other renewable energy technologies, such as solar PV, could be combined with the prowess of Chinese manufacturers to help spearhead the energy storage market.
This has been reflected in the market in recent months. Last week, global sustainable energy infrastructure investor Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners revealed that it is set to launch 8-hour duration battery energy storage systems (BESS) for the Australian market in collaboration with the world’s biggest lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturer, CATL, which is of course headquartered in China.
Meanwhile, China-based Li-ion OEM Gotion revealed it was working with Australian renewable energy developers on more than 4GWh of green projects last year. Buckley says the speed and scale at which the Chinese renewable energy and storage industries move are unparalleled. Australia could support that with natural resources and R&D.
“The speed and the scale of what China is doing in batteries is enormous, but it is resource intensive. Australia is a trusted partner to China in all those resources, so we have a massive opportunity to add our resources to the supply chain,” Buckley says.
“We will receive the BESS from China, from BYD, CATL, Gotion, and all the other Chinese world leaders in batteries. We will be an integral part of the supply chain, and in return, Australia’s energy security will be enhanced.”
The potential of V2G in Australia
Another technology Buckley is keen to discuss is vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and bidirectional charging, a topic that is often discussed frequently here on Energy-Storage.news.
“V2G and bidirectional charging will be as disruptive as battery energy storage systems (BESS) are in 2025. We are about five years away, so we’ve got to get moving, but I think it will be enormously disruptive,” Buckley says.
Buckley’s sentiments echo those of RedEarth Energy Storage, a Queensland-based energy storage solutions provider set to enter the V2X space via an agreement with DC EV charging firm ambibox. Late last year, the organisation exclusively told ESN Premium that Australia could secure 3-5GWh of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) bidirectional charging by the end of 2025.
“This is too conservative, but let’s say that around 2kWh per charger is available daily to the grid. That would give us 3.2GWh for the year. If this becomes around 5kWh or 10kWh, it gets to 10GWh quickly. That’s the first year the market adopts a new product. It’s very easy to imagine what happens in years two to five,” Charlie Walker, CEO and co-founder, said.
Buckley believes that bidirectional charging and V2G technology can optimise the use of a car battery, especially given the time it spends parked.
“By 2040, Australia will have 20 million ‘batteries on wheels’ parked nationwide. They’ll be driving 5% of the time, and around 95% of the time, they will be parked. We will have slow charging at every single car park in Australia by 2040, and we need the enabling infrastructure to support V2G,” Buckley says.
Buckley also discusses his vision for V2G technology and how it could likely be used, especially for commuters.
“You can park near a railway station to get your train trip into the city, and that will be where you charge your car battery for the day. You then come home at 6pm, and your car is fully charged. You drive it home, stick it in your charger when you get home, and then you power your home for the next four hours at night for free,” Buckley explains.
“You can run your car battery down to 20% and then drive it back to the station, rinse and repeat. You could do that 250 days a year. That is the vision for 2040.”
However, despite the technology’s potential, concerns continue to be raised about battery degradation and specifically, the impact that could have on OEM warranty conditions.
Although RedEarth CEO Charlie Walker said in the ESN Premium interview last year that battery degradation would be accelerated via V2G, the CEO also noted that “all EVs have too much battery lifetime for the duration of the vehicle” and that stationary storage applications are much gentler on battery wear-and-tear than mobility, which Walker described as “extremely violent on the battery”.
Tim Buckley adds that it will have a minimal impact due to the rapid technological innovation occurring in the battery market.
“What about the car battery degradation? Rubbish. Anyone who looks at a CATL battery knows they’ve got a 20-year warranty these days, and they’ve got a mile guarantee warranty incorporated into that. The V2G charging implications on your battery will be inconsequential given the rapid technology innovation,” Buckley says.
On day one of the Energy Storage Summit Australia 2025, Tim Buckley will discuss the Capacity Investment Scheme and incentives for Australian energy storage. With the code ESN20, you can get an exclusive 20% discount on your ticket.
