News · Energy · Mayfield + Eraring
Newcastle's coal port is now the first in NSW cleared to store grid batteries, including Eraring's
On 15 July, Port of Newcastle revealed it is the first port in NSW approved to store grid-scale lithium-ion batteries at its Mayfield terminal, and is already handling shipments for three of the state's largest storage projects. One of them is Origin's battery at the retiring Eraring power station in Lake Macquarie. The coal port is becoming the logistics gateway for the infrastructure that replaces coal.
The estuary that ships the country's coal is quietly taking on the job of importing its replacement. On 15 July the Port of Newcastle said it had become the first port in NSW approved to safely store grid-scale lithium-ion batteries at its Mayfield Multipurpose Terminal. The approval itself was granted by the NSW Government in late 2025, after what the port describes as extensive collaboration with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure; what is new is the port going public with the capability and the speed at which the work has arrived since.
It is not a hypothetical capability waiting for cargo. The port says the approval has already let it receive and store batteries bound for three of the state's largest storage projects: AGL's Tomago Battery, Origin Energy's Eraring Battery, and the Bellambi Heights Battery Energy Storage System. For a Lake Macquarie reader that middle name is the one that lands: Origin's battery sits at the Eraring power station, the coal generator the region has watched schedule its own closure, and the units that will do its work are being unloaded a short way up the coast at Mayfield.
What is being staged at Mayfield
The three battery projects the port says it is already handling, and their combined scale as the port states it.
Why a coal port is doing this
Port of Newcastle CEO Craig Carmody put the move inside the port's diversification strategy. “This isn't just a milestone for Port of Newcastle, it's yet another way we're helping customers deliver the infrastructure NSW needs to support a more diverse energy mix,” he said. “These are complex cargoes that require specialist handling, purpose-built infrastructure and the right safety systems. We've invested in that capability because we see where the market is heading and what our customers will need.” He framed the pull plainly: “Whether it's wind turbine components, grid-scale batteries or other major project cargo, PON has built a reputation for handling complex logistics safely, efficiently and reliably. That's why project owners continue choosing to bring this cargo through Newcastle.”
The port is careful to say the pivot sits alongside, not instead of, the coal trade: it still describes itself as Australia's largest coal export port, with continued strong coal and grain exports. But the direction of the investment tells its own story. The port says demand for the battery capability has grown rapidly since approval, and to keep up it is spending on a current $36 million berth extension at the Multipurpose Terminal to take larger vessels, and looking at increasing capacity for project cargo and battery storage.
The Tomago battery, in its own words
The clearest picture of what actually moves across the wharf comes from AGL, whose Tomago Battery is being built just north of Newcastle. AGL's Chief Operations and Construction Officer Matthew Currie said the company's “grid-scale battery fleet is growing, with construction underway on AGL's 500 MW/ 2000 MWh Tomago Battery, which is expected to be operational in the second half of 2027.” The logistics detail is the reason the port's approval matters to a project team: “As we prepare for the installation of more than 400 lithium-ion battery units to form the Tomago Battery, the ability to safely receive and temporarily store battery units and other components at the Port of Newcastle is providing important flexibility for our project team,” Currie said. More than 400 units is a lot of cargo to land, hold and release on a construction schedule, and it is exactly the staging problem the Mayfield approval solves.
What it means for the region
For years the Hunter's place in the energy transition has been discussed as a question of what the region loses. This is a small, concrete piece of what it might keep. The same estuary and the same terminal are handling the batteries and, before them, the wind turbine components for projects across the state; the vessel traffic, the specialist handling work and the $36 million of new berth investment stay in Newcastle rather than leaving with the coal. The port announced the battery capability on the same day the NSW Government approved the Stratford Pumped Hydro and Solar Project, another step under the state's Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap, and tied the two together deliberately: as projects move from planning to construction, someone has to receive and stage the hardware, and the port is positioning itself to be that someone. The coal is still leaving through Newcastle. Now the things that replace it are arriving the same way.
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