Australian energy storage company Redflow has announced the commissioning of a 660kWh battery system in South Australia.
The energy storage unit consists of 60 ZBM flow batteries housed in a shipping container form factor that also incorporates system control and monitoring hardware.
Flow batteries work by pumping two solutions separated by a membrane in one direction for charging and the other for discharging.
The company states its batteries feature a temperature tolerance of up to 50°C. No active cooling or fire suppression is required as there’s no possibility of thermal runaway and the zinc bromide solution is a fire retardant.
At 845mm long, 823mm high and 400 mm wide, the ZBM is the smallest flow battery in the world. It’s still a rather hefty unit; weighing 90kg without electrolyte and 240kg with electrolyte added. Redflow states the ZBM has a net energy efficiency of 80% DC–DC (Max). The nature of flow batteries enable them to be discharged 100%.
The ZBM is designed for use in parallel or series configurations, enabling capacity configurations from kWh to multiple megawatt-hours.
Installed at Base64 Pty Ltd in Kent Town, a suburb of Adelaide, the new large scale battery (LSB) system is working with a 20kW solar array and ABB PCS 100 inverter. An extra 50kW of solar capacity will be added to the system later this year. The LSB is capable of a 200 kW continuous energy output rate and 300kW peak.
“This property will be a showcase for our grid-scale energy storage technology and its capacity to work with renewable energy systems,” said Redflow’s Executive Chairman, Simon Hackett.
Mr. Hackett says Redflow expects the system to be largely self-sufficient in terms of energy generation and use once the additional solar capacity is installed.
Redflow is also expected to soon announce the launch of a home battery system; widening the choices for Australians interested in residential energy storage. The Fronius Solar Battery and very popular Tesla Powerwall are already available locally, and the Enphase AC Battery is expected to be rolled out in Australia this year.
LSB image credit : Simon Hackett
