Redflow Signs its Largest Global Battery Sale With Anaergia to Supply Energy Storage in California

Australian energy storage company Redflow Ltd (ASX: RFX) has signed an agreement to supply a 2 MWh energy storage system comprising of 192 zinc-bromine flow batteries to Anaergia, Inc. (Anaergia), a global technology leader in recovering value from waste.

The batteries will support two-megawatt hours (MWh) of energy and reduce peak energy use at Anaergia’s Rialto Bioenergy Facility (Facility) as part of the Facility’s microgrid. The Facility is located in San Bernardino County, California, and owned by Rialto Bioenergy Facility, LLC, an Anaergia company.

The microgrid project was funded in part by a grant from the California Energy Commission and consists of the batteries, a biogas conditioning system to support a 2.0MW biogas-fueled cogeneration unit, and a microgrid control system.

This agreement represents Redflow’s largest single sale and deployment of batteries globally.

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

Once fully operational, the Facility will be North America’s largest landfill diverted organic waste digester facility. The Facility will convert 700 tonnes per day of organic waste and 300 tonnes per day of biosolids into renewable natural gas and Class A fertilizer. The Facility is located 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Los Angeles and services the organic waste recycling needs of Los Angeles and the Southern California region.

Redflow will provide Anaergia with a 2 MWh system comprising of 192 10 kilowatt-hour zinc-bromine flow batteries to enable the Facility to store and supply up to 2MWh of energy daily from 4-9pm, during peak tariff period. Under the contract, Redflow will receive more than US$1.2 million (excluding taxes) for the system.

“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,” said Redflow Managing Director & CEO Tim Harris. “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.”

The Californian Senate Bill (“SB”) 100 commits the State to decarbonise its electric grid by 2045. A recent study commissioned by the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) found California will need to deploy between 45 gigawatts (GW) and 55GW of long-duration energy storage to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from its electricity sector by 2045. This represents more than 150 times California’s currently operating energy storage built-in since 2010.

Redflow will also provide the Facility with 12 newly designed “Energy Pods” – each containing 16 Redflow batteries and the power electronics needed to link with external inverters – to meet the Facility’s requirements. While each battery has a rated energy storage capacity of 10kWh, in practice, each battery stores about 10.5 kWh of energy, meaning Redflow is comfortable rating this system at 2MWh for Anaergia.

Besides training Anaergia’s electrical contractors to perform the installation, Redflow will provide qualified technicians to support commissioning and Site Acceptance Testing, and any required maintenance. Redflow will also provide Anaergia with access to Redflow’s Battery Management System to allow continuous monitoring and reporting.