Australia’s Redflow enters US market with battery deal with Californian bioenergy plant

Redflow has signed its largest ever international battery distribution deal, signing off on a contract to deliver 2MWh of battery storage capacity to Californian bioenergy company Anaergia.

The battery system will be installed at Anaergia’s Rialto bioenergy facility in San Bernardino County, California. The facility generates power using organic waste materials, and the battery system will be incorporated into a microgrid installation at the site.

The ASX-listed Redflow said the international deal will help the company gain a foothold in a critical Californian market for clean energy technologies.

Under the deal, Redflow will supply Anaergia with 192 of Redflow’s 10kWh zinc-bromine flow batteries, and will in turn receive payment of $1.2 million. The batteries will allow Anaergia to effectively time-shift its supply of power, allowing up to 2MWh of power to be supplied during a key 4pm to 9pm peak tariff period.

“Anaergia selected Redflow’s zinc-bromine flow batteries because they are uniquely suited to meet the demands of the Rialto site,” Anaergia chief operating officer Yaniv Scherson said.

During trading on Tuesday, Redflow shares surged more than 70 per cent higher on the news, pushing past 9 cents per share. The shares had given up some of the gains by the time the market had closed, but still finished the day up by more than 45 per cent.

“Anaergia’s Rialto Bioenergy Facility provides the ideal use case for Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries. Our batteries thrive on heat and hard work – exactly what Anaergia requires from them,” Redflow CEO Tim Harris said.

“This project also enables Redflow to establish a presence in California, where we can offer commercially-proven zinc-bromine flow battery solutions to the broader Californian and US energy market. These markets are expected to accelerate the transition to renewable energy under the new administration of President Biden. We are very excited about the potential for Redflow in California and the broader US market.”

California represents one of the world’s largest markets for clean energy technologies, and as an economy is more than twice the size of that of Australia as a whole.

The Californian government has legislated a goal of decarbonising its electricity grid by 2045, with estimates suggesting that as much as 55GW of energy storage capacity will need to be added to the state’s electricity system.

The Redflow batteries will be deployed as 12 “energy pods”, which each contain 16 of Redflow’s 10kWh battery devices.

The Rialto Bioenergy facility processes around 700 tonnes of organic waste and  300 tonnes of biosolids on a daily basis, producing renewable gas and fertiliser.

Redflow will train Anaergia personnel to undertake the installation of the company’s batteries, as well as providing technical support during the commissioning process. Redflow’s battery management systems will also be provided to Anaergia to allow continuous monitoring of battery performance.

Redflow had foreshadowed the deal in its recent half-year results announcement, saying that it would begin targeting megawatt-hour scale markets for its products, as the company prepares to commence production of the 10kWh ZBM batteries in the second half of 2021.

It was a positive announcement from the Brisbane-based battery manufacturer, which experienced a difficult 2020 as the economic fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic had dampened the company’s expansion plans, including an underwhelming capital raise that was undersubscribed, and a significant fall in battery orders.