Redflow eyes US expansion and new battery storage products after record orders

Australian battery manufacturer Redflow has its eyes on expansion into the US market, after recording record demand for its zinc-bromine flow batteries in the last financial year.

In an update to shareholders on Friday, Redflow said that orders for its battery technologies had surged to a new record high – reaching 176 in the 2020-21 financial year.

This includes a deal to deliver a 2MWh battery solution to the Anaergia bioenergy project in California.

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.

Redflow said that it had also progressed other potential US deals, including negotiations with a large publicly listed corporate.

“Having signed our largest global battery sale to Anaergia last quarter, this quarter business development efforts focused on the strong opportunity in the US, where interest levels are growing,” Redflow CEO Tim Harris said.

“We received a Request for Information (RFI) from a large US listed corporate to become an approved supplier of flow batteries.

“While the opportunity is at an early stage, if we are selected, it has the potential to be material. We are excited about the opportunity to leverage our success to sign further Megawatt Hour deals in the rapidly growing US energy storage market.”

Redflow has developed a range of scalable zinc-bromine flow batteries, from 10kWh residential scale batteries, which can be combined to provide commercial and utility scale battery solutions.

The company said that following the successful completion of $14.7 million in funding rounds through the last financial year, including a recently completed $9.7 million share placement, it would execute a global expansion strategy and continue the development of new products.

While the company would use the funds raised to further the development of its battery technologies, including its new Gen3 battery platform, the share placement again fell short of expectations – issuing just 54 per cent of the total share entitlements made available to its existing shareholders.

“The equity raising strengthened our balance sheet to support our business development and engineering initiatives and supports our working capital needs,” Harris said.

“Our Gen3 battery development and its introduction into production continues to be a key focus and we are ramping up manufacturing to meet the increasing demand for our batteries, locally and internationally.”

The update showed positive progress for the company, which navigated experienced a difficult 2020 year as the economic fall out of the Covid-19 pandemic had dampened the company’s expansion plans, including two undersubscribed capital raisings, and a significant fall in battery orders.