“There has been a 50 per cent increase in battery costs over the last 12 months,” Mr Russell said. “This has been largely driven by commodity prices, lithium and nickel prices, but it has also been driven by the way batteries are sourced and supplied to the Australian market.” While there are three companies selling big batteries in the Australian market – the US’s Tesla and Fluence Energy as well as Finland’s Wärtsilä – their batteries are all made by Chinese manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co, he said. The Equis project will use batteries from Wärtsilä. The Melbourne battery system…