Redflow to launch $6m capital raising

Brisbane-based zinc bromide battery developer, Redflow, has announced plans to launch a $6 million capital raising, to put towards developing its unique energy storage technology and to help bring the company into a “cashflow positive” position.

Redflow has so far spent around $38 million on R&D on its zinc bromide “flow” batteries, and says it is finally on the cusp of major commercial deals; with completion of the cleantech funded prototype imminent, three current system integration partners, and two confirmed customers – Emerson and Raytheon.

In March, the company revealed it was targeting a 40 per cent cut in the capital cost of energy storage systems by the end of 2015.

News of the planned fund raising round follows last week’s arrival on the Redflow share register of well known tech market player Simon Hackett, who invested $2.2 million in the company for more than 9 per cent of its shares, making him its major shareholder.

“For years, I’ve followed developments in the energy storage market,” Hackett told The Australian. “After a long period of research and development work to create the ZBM solution, RedFlow is now on the cusp of full commercial production of their battery systems.”

Redflow’s core product, the Redflow ZMB, will deliver 8kWh of energy with a continuous power rating of 3kW. It will have a life of more than 1000 cycles, and at least two years of 100 per cent depth of discharge, daily charging and discharging available.

It will be used in the powering of off‐grid, micro grid or fringe‐of‐grid areas, integration of renewables, reducing need for diesel generation, and to shift electricity from off‐peak to peak periods, deferring the need for expensive upgrades of expensive grid infrastructure.

A trial with Sprint in Arizona resulted in solar charging of the ZBM during the day and discharging in the evening. It allowed all PV energy to be stored until required during peak demand.

Earlier this year, Redflow signed a battery manufacturing agreement with US-based Flextronics – one of the world’s biggest end-to-end supply chain solutions companies, with annual revenues of nearly $25 billion. Production is expected to begin in six to nine months.

The new share offer will open to existing shareholders on June 2, and to the broader market on June 5. It will close on June 19.