Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan, Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, Government of Tamil Nadu, and Hon. Rita Saffioti, Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Transport, Tourism, Western Australia at the Trade Mission 2024 to deepen ties between Tamil Nadu and Western Australia
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Australia’s largest state concluded on Thursday its delegation-led mission in Chennai, highlighting trade-related connection between the two states and their shared goal in transitioning to a decarbonised future.
Rita Saffioti, Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Transport and Tourism of Western Australia, announced the Innovation Exchange Programme, an agreement aimed at fostering collaboration between the two states.
On decarbonisation, the Minister shared Western Australia’s strength in mining resources and availability of critical minerals that are essential for a clean energy future.
“Western Australia has a lot of critical minerals. And as part of the energy transformation around the world, Western Australia wants to play its role,” Ms. Saffioti told The Hindu during a select media roundtable in Chennai.
While the two states are yet finalise specific agreements on how they plan to approach decarbonisation and secure battery supply chain, they are exploring various options.
According to Minister Saffioti, one of the opportunities being looked at is making Western Australian companies partner with firms in Tamil Nadu in relation to producing vanadium, which in turn will be supplied to battery manufacturers in the state and around the world. The partnership could be based on raw material processing and knowledge sharing between the two states.
Minister Saffioti pointed out that Western Australia faces a battery storage challenge as the state produces a lot of energy.
“So battery storage for us is a big challenge, but our energy network, where we source our batteries, and how we partner to develop those [networks] are something we’re exploring,” she said.
Critical minerals, like lithium, nickel and vanadium, are an important link in the global transition to clean energy as these rare earths are used in making batteries for electric vehicles (EV).
About 53% of the global lithium supply comes from Australia and as of 2023 most of it was sold to China, a dependence Australia wants to break. And to that end, the country’s government announced $2 billion to finance expansion in critical minerals. It has also inked pacts with the U.S. government to secure supply and processing of rare earths.
Australia’s global outreach comes at time when the Oceania country chalks out plans to decouple from China, one of largest lithium refiners. While lithium processing and battery manufacturing are already being done in Australia, the scale and size of the operation are not as large as in China. With years of experience and a large number of lithium refining facilities in the country, Beijing has a solid headstart.
What Australia lacks in terms of scale, the country is making up by building partnerships with governments that are looking to invest in green technology. The global interest in securing rare earths supply chain is making Australia an important country in global decarbonisation effort.
The emerging green technology supply chain links could not have come at a better time for Tamil Nadu as EV makers and battery producers are steadily moving into the state. Two weeks ago, Vietnam-based VinFast, seen as a competitor to Tesla, announced plans to set up an EV manufacturing factory and a battery production plant in Thoothukudi. Ola Electric’s lithium battery gigafab plant is gearing up to start production in February in Krishnagiri.
At the recently concluded T.N. Global Investors Meet, Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, in a video message, said the company is committed to making new investments in Tamil Nadu in renewable energy and green hydrogen sectors.
As part of their continued effort in building linkages, Minister Saffioti-led delegation is working with aviation stakeholders in establishing direct flight connectivity between Chennai and Perth, which will in essence cut travel time between the two countries down to about seven hours.