The NSW Opposition has stepped up its campaign for the 700-megawatt Waratah Super Battery to be built at the old Munmorah Power Station site.
Tenders for the project opened this month, with the NSW government planning to award a contract later this year and build it by 2024.
Swansea MP Yasmin Catley, whose electorate includes the Munmorah site, held a press conference with Shadow Minister for Energy Jihad Dib and fellow Central Coast Labor MPs Liesl Tesch and David Mehan on Friday.
It came amid an energy sector crisis, with rising gas, coal and electricity prices and a coal shortage at Eraring Power Station in west Lake Macquarie - Australia's largest power station.
Ms Catley said the battery plan offered the Central Coast an opportunity to continue as an energy provider.
"The transmission infrastructure is here. It's already a site that's zoned for that type of industrial use. It is a large parcel of land that would be magnificent for a renewable energy hub," she said.
She wanted the hub to include manufacturing with "well paid, secure jobs".
Mr Dib said the super battery "potentially has three to four hours of energy for 1.3 million homes".
"That's a huge amount of energy that can be stored. We know the battery is incredibly important for that jigsaw that we require for energy stability and supply. Nobody wants to see a situation where there's power shortages. We've got to ensure there's downward pressure on prices. Families should be able to afford energy."
Energy Minister Matt Kean said last month that 30 proposals were received from around the globe during the expressions of interest stage. He said it would be "the largest standby network battery in the southern hemisphere".
"The battery will act as a 'shock absorber' - absorbing any sudden power surges including those from a bushfire or lightning strike.
"A number of parties have shown interest in building the battery on NSW government-owned land, including the former Munmorah Power Station site."
He said the battery would be in service in 2024, "before the closure of Eraring Power Station in 2025".
Ms Tesch, the Gosford MP, said it shouldn't be forgotten that the battery was about "the planet" and "future generations".
"We've known we had to make massive changes with renewable energy for a long time," she said.
"Back in my uni studies in 1986, we were calling out for changes."
Mr Mehan said it was the "state Labor MPs that moved the amendment in Parliament that made the Central Coast part of the renewable energy zone network in NSW".
"That enables projects like the one mooted today to happen on the Central Coast," Mr Mehan said.
"There's a whole bunch of reasons why it would be good to have the battery here. We're hoping the state treasurer hears our call."
On the Eraring coal shortage issue, Ms Catley said: "This is a crisis at the moment".
"Not that long ago, these were public assets. We had state-owned mines that provided the coal to the state-owned power stations that proudly powered up this state.
"Privatisation has been a disaster for NSW."
She said the area's coal sector had a "number of very big international players".
"Because we have different players, we don't have the same co-operation in making sure there is provision and supply of coal to the power stations. It's a problem."
