Redflow and carbonTRACK collaborate to add Virtual Power Plant functionality to flow batteries

Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited (ASX: RFX) and smart energy system company carbonTRACK today announce an agreement that will enable Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to work with carbonTRACK’s energy management system.

This collaboration will deliver Virtual Power Plant (VPP) functionality on Redflow battery systems, enabling customers to leverage carbonTRACK’s intelligent control algorithms to optimise the benefits of Redflow’s flow batteries by tailoring the total power system to each customer’s needs.

carbonTRACK and Redflow will initially explore opportunities to collaborate in the strategically important South African market where both companies have built a presence over the past few years. Challenges caused by the notorious unreliability of South Africa’s national electricity grid provide multiple opportunities for Redflow’s energy storage solution to work with carbonTRACK’s intelligent energy utilisation software. Potential South African target customers include commercial and large residential deployments as well as off-grid energy systems.

Redflow’s flow battery, the smallest production zinc-bromine flow battery in the world, delivers key advantages including long operating life, heat tolerance and no degradation of energy storage capacity with heavy cycling use. This makes it an excellent partner for frequent and regular dispatching by carbonTRACK’s energy dispatching algorithms.

carbonTRACK’s Demand Response, Frequency Regulation, Virtual Energy Trading and Grid Resiliency solutions deliver the VPP Value Chain to Utilities and Transmission System Operators, Energy Traders and System Operators, Financiers, Solar Sales Teams and Solar hardware manufacturers.

carbonTRACK Managing Director Spiros Livadaras said the company was delighted to partner with Redflow. “Redflow’s plug-and-play energy storage system, based on its robust zinc-bromine flow batteries, can shift and manage large volumes of energy,” he said. “Our technology complements Redflow’s ability to self-manage, protect and monitor their batteries 24/7.”

Redflow Managing Director and CEO Tim Harris said the collaboration with carbonTRACK added value for customers by providing VPP capabilities to the company’s unique battery solution. “This delivers an important strategic capability by enabling Redflow batteries to become a part of a broader suite of energy assets that can be efficiently monitored, coordinated and controlled,” he said.

“The investment we have made in our Battery Management System (BMS) is a critical enabler which will allow us to deliver VPP capability with carbonTRACK. We see great opportunities to work with carbonTRACK in South Africa and the potential to then target other markets like off-grid deployments in Australia.”