Redflow to supply California microgrid flow battery

Redflow announced on June 1 it will supply a 20MWh flow battery system for a solar-storage microgrid project in northern California.

The zinc-bromine BESS for the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians — a federally recognized sovereign nation — has been approved and funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) under its $140 million long-duration energy storage grant program.

Redflow will supply 2,000 ZBM3 batteries in its 200kWh modular en- ergy pods, for delivery in 2023 and 2024.

The company has signed a definitive supply agreement with Faraday Microgrids covering battery supply and technical support.

A formal notice to start on the project should be issued next month.

The project represents Redflow’s largest single sale and deployment of batteries to date, following the installation of a 2MWh flow battery system in California for Anaergia last year.

The Automotive Cells Company (ACC) has formally opened its €7 billion ($7.5 billion) flagship gigafactory in France — with the first of three 13.4GWh production blocks at the site starting operations by the end of the year.

ACC, a consortium of Stellantis, TotalEnergies (via its Saft subsidiary) and Daimler’s Mercedes-

Benz, said on May 30 the other two units at the Billy-Berclau Douvrin gigafactory, in the Hautsde-France region, will come on line by late 2024.

The site will produce lithium ion battery cells and modules across an area of more than 60,000m2, with total annual production capacity reaching 40GWh by 2030.

ACC said construction of the site took 17 months at a cost of nearly €800 million.

Meanwhile, production is set to start at ACC’s two other gigafactory projects in Germany in 2025 and Italy in 2026. By 2030, a total of 2.5 million battery modules will be leaving all three gigafactories each year, CEO Yann Vincent said.

Redflow CEO Tim Harris said the 20MWh BESS is one of several large-scale opportunities in the pipeline as the firm continues to focus on US and Australian markets.

“For this project, Redflow’s battery system is designed to charge from solar and discharge throughout the remainder of the day, reducing grid demand and boosting the energy security of the Paskenta Rancheria,” he said.

The microgrid is part of the Tribe’s efforts to achieve greater energy sovereignty and reduce the use of fossil fuels.