CANBERRA, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The world's largest producer of batteries and solar energy systems has announced it will set up an assembly facility in South Australia (SA).
Germany's Sonnen GmbH also announced it would move its Australian headquarters from Sydney to Adelaide.
Under the plan, 50,000 household batteries will be assembled in Adelaide over a five-year period, creating 190 permanent full-time jobs.
Jay Weatherill, Premier of SA, said the installation of the systems could create another 300 jobs.
Weatherill, who has made renewable energy a major focus of his re-election campaign, did not pledge any funding for Sonnen, but did say the government would help the company find a suitable location.
Sonnen is the operator of Germany's largest "virtual power plant," a system that integrates several power sources to provide a reliable supply, but will find tougher competition in SA where Elon Musk's energy storage giant Tesla has promised to build the world's largest virtual power plant.
The announcement of Sonnen's move came as Weatherill promised to make 100 million Australian dollars (78 million U.S. dollars) available in interest-free loans for households to purchase solar panels and batteries.
If re-elected for a historic fifth consecutive term, Weatherill's Australian Labor Party (ALP) will offer 10,000 homes loans of up to 10,000 Australian dollars (7,800 U.S. dollars) under the scheme.
"It's going to slash bills, we've already seen that with our virtual power station, modelling demonstrates a 30 percent reduction in energy power," he told reporters on Thursday.
"We've seen from the national regulator that renewable energy projects are projected to reduce energy bills by (235 U.S. dollars) over the next two years, so it's just beginning to happen."
A similar scheme announced by the Opposition Liberal Party in October last year would see up to 40,000 homes given loans of 2,500 Australian dollars (1,950 U.S. dollars) to purchase solar systems.
