Redflow looks deeper into making flow batteries in Australia, backed by grant

Brisbane-based long duration energy storage company Redflow is investigating the potential to establish a large-scale battery manufacturing plant in its home state of Queensland, backed by more than $1 million in funding from the state government.

Redflow, which currently manufactures its zine bromide flow batteries in Thailand, has been awarded up to $1.12m under the Queensland Critical Minerals and Battery Technology Fund.

The grant will go towards a study to examine the feasibility of building a battery manufacturing facility in the Sunshine State, including determining the optimal factory size and location, and designing a fully automated factory to manufacture cost competitive batteries.

The total cost of the project is expected to be around $3.2 million, of which up to $1.12 million will be reimbursed by the grant funding, subject to meeting milestones. The work is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024.

“Redflow is a proud Queensland headquartered company with technology developed locally and a global market,” said Redflow CEO Tim Harris in a company statement.

“This grant will allow us to fast track our planning for the next phase of our manufacturing expansion and the potential for Queensland to be our global manufacturing hub.

“The feasibility study is the first step in the process, and we are confident of advancing our plans,” Harris said.

The funding for Redflow follows up on the February unveiling of Queensland’s five-year, $571 million Battery Industry Strategy, setting out a plan to establish a battery supply chain in the state, spanning from materials supply to advanced manufacturing, associated technologies and recycling.

Harris says the Battery Strategy along with the Queensland Energy & Jobs Plan have given the company the confidence that it is the right time to invest in local manufacturing capability.

“The government has laid out its ambition for the creation of a vibrant battery manufacturing industry in the state and we look forward to helping them achieve this,” he said.

Queensland’s deputy premier and treasurer Cameron Dick says the shift to clean energy is presenting “incredible opportunities” for industry, and for local ingenuity like to “step up to the plate.”

“Redflow is part of our growing local ecosystem of battery technology companies and we are proud to support them to fast-track the development of their tech and potentially manufacturing their products right here in Queensland,” Dick said.

“We’re actively positioning Queensland to become a global leader in the clean energy technology so essential for the world’s decarbonisation.”

Redflow raised the prospect of setting up a factory in Australia in January, at a quarterly investor briefing outlining the company’s four-year “path to profitability plan” – due to be published in full sometime this month.

At the briefing, Redflow flagged a bigger, better “next generation” zinc bromide flow battery in the works called X10 that would be competitive with all large-scale battery technologies on the market, including lithium.

The company has had some significant wins in the US market since the introduction of the Biden government’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), including being tapped by the California Energy Committee to supply 15.4MWh of batteries for a microgrid project.

Redflow is also in talks to supply 34MWh of battery storage to the US Department of Energy for the Valley Children’s Hospital, with final contracting set to be finalised in the first half of the 2025-26 financial year.

“We’ll look at the viability of onshoring manufacturing back to Australia … and possibly also a factory in the US to comply with IRA legislation,” Redflow’s new CFO Michael Hipwood said in January.

“We think the opportunity … in front of us is significant, you know; 55 megawatt-hours of opportunity that we’ve been shortlisted for,” added Harris during the webcast briefing.

“We are the only Australian company that has got projects with the CEC (California Energy Commission). We’re the only Australian company that’s got a project with the US DOE long duration energy storage program. And that’s a great place for us to be – it gives us visibility.”