The New Zealand Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) has chosen Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries to store energy in off-grid telecommunication sites in remote rural locations. Commercial negotiations to establish a direct relationship between RCG and Redflow to purchase batteries are now underway.
Continue reading “Rural Connectivity Group chooses Redflow for off-grid energy storage in New Zealand”
Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited (ASX: RFX) has won an order to provide 68 ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries for at least 20 mobile phone tower sites in South Africa owned by one of Africa’s leading telecommunication companies.
The company, which provides telecommunication services to millions of customers across a number of African countries, decided to deploy Redflow batteries in its infrastructure after successfully testing ZBM2 batteries in a proof of concept trial. Deployment is scheduled to begin this month. Redflow expects to receive revenue from the order this calendar year, which has a commercial gross margin.
This latest sale extends the presence of Redflow batteries in South Africa after last year’s announcement that it had sold 32 zinc-bromine flow batteries to provide standby energy storage for remotely-located mobile phone towers in South Africa.
This new order for ZBM2 batteries is through Redflow’s South African partner Mobax, which will be responsible for the installation and on-going support of the batteries under its field services agreement with the mobile phone company. Redflow’s long-time South African distributor and solar integrator, Specialized Solar Solutions, will provide first-level in-country support to Mobax.
Mobax will commence deployment of Redflow batteries at mobile base stations that are currently powered by diesel generators. The ZBM2 batteries will reduce operational costs through less diesel use, lower fuel delivery costs to remote locations and less frequent generator servicing.
Using Redflow batteries to reduce diesel use will also lower carbon tax liabilities arising from South Africa’s new carbon pollution reduction regulations, which came into force on June 1 this year.
Mobax Chief Operating Officer Maris Van Wyk said Mobax was delighted to extend its partnership with Redflow through wider deployment of the company’s innovative zinc-bromine flow battery technology in South Africa’s telecommunications market. “As well as delivering substantial opex (operational expenditure) savings, the ZBM2 battery offers many benefits in the South African environment including its long operating life and temperature resilience,” he said.
“We are also confident that the ZBM2 battery, which weighs about 240 kg and has no secondary resale value, will be less prone to theft than conventional batteries. These are challenges faced by other telecommunications companies throughout Africa, so we see this as a significant opportunity.”
Redflow Managing Director and CEO Tim Harris said this latest South African order demonstrated the value that zinc-bromine flow batteries offered to the telecommunications sector internationally. “Energy storage for mobile phone towers is a well-established market globally,” he said.
“To date, it has faced high operating costs through the use of diesel generators and three-year replacement cycles for lead-acid batteries – or more frequently if these batteries are stolen for their recycling value. With a 10-year warranty and theft-resistant features, our ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries solve these problems, delivering long-life, hard-working energy storage in warm climatic conditions.
“This latest order demonstrates Redflow’s progress towards supplying this market opportunity.”
About Redflow
Redflow Limited, a publicly-listed Australian company (ASX: RFX), produces small 10kWh zinc-bromine flow batteries that tolerate daily hard work in harsh conditions. Marketed as ZCell and ZBM2, Redflow batteries are designed for high cycle-rate, long time-base stationary energy storage applications in the residential, commercial & industrial and telecommunications sectors, and are scalable from a single battery installation through to grid-scale deployments. Redflow batteries are sold, installed and maintained by an international network of energy system integrators. Redflow’s smart, self-protecting batteries offer unique advantages including secure remote management, 100 per cent daily depth of discharge, tolerance of high ambient temperatures, a simple recycling path, no propensity for thermal runaway and sustained energy delivery throughout their operating life.
Redflow Limited (ASX:RFX) is pleased to announce an agreement with Mobax South Africa to provide batteries to test as a solution for mobile phone towers with a leading South African mobile network provider.
The agreement will see Redflow batteries deployed at existing mobile sites, with a particular focus on reducing the high cost of running diesel backup generators as well as being a less attractive target for theft. Redflow will supply as many as 10 ZBM2 batteries at its cost for the duration of the project, which aims to validate the technical and commercial benefits of the Redflow energy storage solution. The six-month project is expected to commence next month with defined success criteria that can be achieved earlier.
The ZBM2 batteries will be deployed and supported by Mobax South Africa, a new Redflow system integration partner. Mobax is part of Mobax Group, a leading field service provider of engineering, project and technical services to telecommunication network operators across southern Africa. Mobax Group, which has more than 350 field service engineers deployed across multiple countries, will be supported by Redflow’s long-time South African distributor SSS (Specialized Solar Systems). Continue reading “Redflow extends footprint with leading South African telco”
Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited (ASX: RFX) has secured preferred supplier status with Soul Energy to provide batteries for the first of a number of expected infrastructure projects throughout Australasia.
Headquartered in New Zealand, Soul Energy is a green energy systems integrator providing technology infrastructure solutions in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific. Its services include design, manufacturing, installation, support and monitoring systems.
Partnering with Redflow has enabled Soul Energy to focus on key verticals, including telecommunications, utilities, agriculture and commercial as well as off-grid communities.
The total potential requirement for the first customer is as many as 200 Redflow batteries, likely to commence with an initial small order as early as June 2019. Following this customer awarding the head contract to Soul Energy, Redflow will finalise commercial battery supply terms which will include project staging and delivery schedules. The financial implications of the opportunity for Redflow will become apparent after these details are settled. Continue reading “Soul Energy partners with Redflow for infrastructure rollouts”
Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited (ASX: RFX) has won a follow-up sale of 32 zinc-bromine flow batteries to provide standby energy storage for mobile phone towers in South Africa.
This second sale follows an initial order last month for five batteries for use at mobile phone towers run by a leading South African telecommunication company. The towers are owned by a local company that is supported by the South African Government’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) affirmative action agenda.
Redflow CEO Tim Harris, who received the new order after a visit to South Africa last week, said it clearly demonstrated the technological and commercial viability of Redflow’s zinc-bromine flow batteries for telecommunication deployments. “Our batteries thrive on heat and hard work, which is what these sites in South Africa require. Following yesterday’s Optus announcement, today’s new sale further highlights the value proposition that Redflow’s ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries deliver to telecommunications companies, both in Australia and overseas,” he said.
Continue reading “Redflow wins second South African telco battery sale”
Redflow today has announced an order to provide six ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries for energy storage at an Optus mobile phone tower in the environmentally sensitive Daintree rainforest.
The Redflow ZBM2 batteries will store and supply 60 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy for the Optus mobile phone tower at Alexandra Range, in the Cape Tribulation section of the Daintree rainforest, a remote headland and ecotourism destination in Far North Queensland. Situated 1500km north of Brisbane, the Daintree National Park became a World Heritage Site in 1988.
Optus selected Redflow’s ZBM2 batteries for deployment at their Cape Tribulation site because of the batteries’ sustained energy storage capacity, tolerance of warm temperatures, remote management capability and environmentally-friendly design. Continue reading “Redflow batteries to power Optus mobile tower in Daintree rainforest”
Redflow Limited has received an order to supply five zinc-bromine flow batteries for a pilot project to provide standby energy storage for mobile phone towers in South Africa.
This order will see Redflow provide the project with batteries for five identified sites with the first batteries to be deployed in November. The project will see Redflow’s zinc-bromine flow batteries provide energy storage for the mobile phone towers, operated by one of South Africa’s leading telcos. The towers will be owned by a local company, supported by the South African Government’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) affirmative action agenda.
The sale was made through Redflow’s long-term South African partner, Specialized Solar Systems (SSS), which has formed a joint venture company with specialist telco supplier Amber Energy. Called SSS Gauteng, the new company will deliver the energy storage and telecommunications skills to deploy the batteries on remote mobile phone towers.
Redflow has worked with SSS to enable its batteries to operate in Standby Power System (SPS) mode. In this newly created operating mode, Redflow batteries can be charged and then placed in a dormant state, with no self-discharge, until a power outage. When energy is required, the battery can boot up to full operational status in a similar timeframe to a standby generator – with no internal combustion engine and no fuel storage required on the site.
Redflow Managing Director and CEO Tim Harris said this sale created a significant opportunity for the company. “The Standby Power System, which Redflow has developed with our partners, will help open the door for access to other cellphone network operators in Africa and internationally,” he said. Continue reading “Redflow supplies batteries for South African mobile phone towers”
Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited has shipped zinc-bromine flow batteries made at its new factory in Thailand to fulfil its largest-ever order for use in a digital television network in Fiji.
New Zealand-based telecommunications infrastructure specialist Hitech Solutions last year chose Redflow’s ZBM2 batteries to provide energy storage for Fiji’s new digital television network which it is deploying for the Fiji Government throughout the Pacific nation, including remote islands.
Hitech Solutions ordered US$1.2 million worth of Redflow ZBM2 batteries to store and supply renewable energy to power the Fijian digital TV network. The company, which has operated a five-battery trial site in Fiji during the past year, intends to scale up its deployment of solar panels and Redflow batteries during the next six months. Hitech will install from five to 60 ZBM2 batteries at more than 10 sites in Fiji, many of which are on hills with no access to the country’s electricity grid. Continue reading “Redflow batteries to power Fiji’s digital TV rollout”
From Australia and New Zealand to Latin America, telecommunication service providers have used Redflow batteries to store and provide power for remote telecom tower sites.
White Paper: Redflow Telco Application
Presentation: Energy Storage for Communities, Mining and Telecommunications
ZBM2 case study: Telecom BTS case study from Latin America
News, May 2017 Redflow secures A$800,000 battery sale for tropics
News, September 2017 Hi-Tech places second US$600,000 order for Redflow batteries
Redflow this week promotes its ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries for use in the booming telecommunications tower market at the TowerXChange event in South Africa this week.
TowerXchange is an open community for thought leaders in the emerging market towers industry, bringing together mobile network operators (MNOs), tower companies, investors, equipment and service providers to share best practices in passive and active infrastructure management, opex reduction, and to accelerate infrastructure sharing.
Redflow has a stand at the TowerXchange Meetup for Africa and the Middle East, which is running at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, from October 3-4.
Redflow’s presence at TowerXChange aligns with the company’s focus, announced earlier this year, to insert its long-lived zinc-bromine flow batteries into the lead-acid refresh cycle for telco towers, a replacement process that typically occurs every 18-36 months in warm and tropical climates.
To learn more about the benefits of Redflow energy storage for the telecommunications sector, visit http://redflow.com/applications/telecommunications/.