Australian engineering and manufacturing company RedFlow has formed a partnership with Emerson Network Power to take its unique flow battery storage technology into new markets.
Plans are already underway for a trial with a telecommunications company located in the Asia-Pacific region and the two companies are in discussion with a European-based telecommunications company.
Under the agreement, Emerson Network Power will integrate its solar energy solutions with RedFlow’s zinc bromide module (ZBM) flow batteries to provide power to remote sites that lack continuous power.
RedFlow CEO Stuart Smith said the technology is ideally suited to the telco market as it uses the same DC voltage – allowing 100 per cent discharge – and operates intemperatures up to 50°C.
He said RedFlow technology is a big improvement on traditional solutions.
“Just compare this to the lead acid batteries traditionally used in the telco sector that can only discharge to 80 per cent and need air conditioning in ambient temperatures over 25° to ensure ongoing performance,” Smith said.
He said it was Emerson Network Power’s success in the telco market and its expertise in energy, as well as its global footprint, that attracted RedFlow.
“Our agreement with Emerson offers us the opportunity to expand our business into the telecommunications sector as well as other off-grid and micro-grid markets,” he said.
“The collaboration with Emerson is an important step in the validation of RedFlow’s technology, and the ongoing development of our prototype ZBM batteries towards a commercially ready stage.”
RedFlow, a Queensland-based company, is the only provider in the world of modular zinc bromide flow batteries, which lower the cost and complexity of potential implementations and enable customers to easily add more units as needed.
The vice president of Emerson’s energy systems business in Asia, Ross Campbell, said RedFlow’s technology offers a range of environmental benefits.
“Because they can be fully discharged, fewer batteries are needed to power a site and there is less need to call on back-up generators,” Campbell said.
“Also, because the RedFlow batteries function in ambient temperatures of up to 50° they are less likely to need an air conditioned environment.”
Although industry standards recommend that lead acid batteries are replaced every five years with the consequential environmental effects, Campbell said the RedFlow ZBM batteries have largely plastic components which are expected to be less of an issue with hazardous waste.
RedFlow also supplied 12 ZBM batteries this year to a major US conglomerate with some activities in the US defence industry following a trial in the second half of 2012.