Redflow’s First Thai-Made Battery Stacks Arrive In Australia

Australia energy storage company Redflow announced yesterday the first battery electrode stacks manufactured at its new Thailand facility had arrived in Brisbane.

The battery stack (pictured above) is a major component of Redflow’s 10kWh ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow battery, containing electrodes that charge and discharge the battery by “plating” and “deplating” zinc on a membrane.

The Thai-made battery stacks will be installed on approximately 200 stack-less ZBM2 battery tank sets at its Brisbane headquarters that were produced last year at the former factory in North America. Once the stacks are installed, the batteries will then be tested and shipped to meet existing orders.

The ZBM2, the world’s smallest zinc-bromine flow battery, also forms the basis of Redflow’s Z-Cell, the company’s home/small commercial battery storage solution.

  “As we manufacture stacks for these approximately 200 tank sets, we will progressively validate high-quality components and sub-assemblies at our factory,” said Redflow Chairman Brett Johnson.

The company says it intends to produce batteries that have been end-to-end manufactured in Thailand before June 2018. Once fully operational, the Thai manufacturing line should be able to produce up to 250 batteries each month.

“The Board and management are confident that we will be producing well-made and reliable Redflow batteries in substantial numbers during the second half of 2018,” stated Mr. Johnson.

Redflow announced last year it was shifting battery manufacturing from North America to South East Asia; selecting Thailand as the country offered the necessary manufacturing expertise, logistics and favourable tax treatment for international manufacturers. The shift enables the company to achieve lower production costs and be closer to its most lucrative markets in Australia, Oceania and southern Africa.

The company has seen other major changes over the past year, including the appointment of Mr. Johnson as independent non-executive chairman, Richard Aird as CEO and Jenny Macdonald as an independent non-executive director and chair of Redflow’s Audit Committee. Mr. Aird replaced Simon Hackett, who is still the largest investor in the company and a board director. Here’s an interview with Mr. Hackett last year while he was still CEO, discussing the virtues/operation of the ZBM2/Z-Cell, solar and energy storage generally:

In other recent Redflow news, the company published a case study regarding Mossel Bay Municipality in the Southern Cape province of South Africa, which deployed four  ZBM2 batteries for use by its Technical Services Department buildings. The Redflow battery system has been operating since late 2016.