With electricity prices predicted to increase, batteries are becoming the item to invest in. Battery cases have become the number one priority for RedEarth Energy Storage, and their contracted metal case manufacturer, Metal-Tech.
Chris Winter is the Co-Founder and the brains behind RedEarth Energy Storage’s battery energy storage systems (BESS) and LFP Troppo batteries.
Winter previously co-founded RedFlow, where he manufactured flow batteries alone. “But it’s a bit like biotech, where you have to put in a few years work before reaping the benefits,” he said.
“Building the flow battery took up a lot of my time, and one day I decided I should just produce a complete system, which is easy to install,” he said.
“RedEarth now manufactures complete energy storage systems, including our own battery, which are on-grid and off-grid, ready to power businesses, homes, SMEs, and retail outlets.”
One of RedEarth’s initial goals was to bring down the complexity of installation for the kits. Installers could also install inverters, solar panels, and the battery power systems like a Meccano set. But more recently, Winter has moved into having the whole kit as an integrated storage system which includes inverters, batteries and monitoring that is ready to be plugged in to an energy source, like solar panels.
The simplicity of installation has been especially beneficial where electricity was urgently needed.
“I’ve seen a lot of RedEarth off-grid boxes being sent into bushfire areas, flooded areas, all parts of our injured country where the climate has hit us hard,” said Winter.
“But it’s also very useful in the wide expanse of remote areas of Australia, even in better times. These kits can be brought in and just switched on. They might have solar connections, or perhaps wind turbine systems. Battery energy storage solutions (BESS) for instance, are a game-changer for commercial and industrial operations. From reductions in ongoing operating expenses to providing a safe and reliable backup power supply to ensure your operations continue to run smoothly in the event of a power outage, and achieving sustainability targets and compliance – the benefits and opportunities of energy storage go far beyond simple energy bill savings.”
RedEarth has a number of on- and off-grid energy storage solutions in a range of sizes suitable for sheds, homes, businesses and even commercial industrial applications. Proudly Australian-made – and with system names including the DropBear, HoneyBadger, BushPig, and Troppo, RedEarth sources its materials locally wherever possible, assembling its products at its factory in Brisbane, Darra.
This has also kept RedEarth’s suppliers busy.
“We have our metal manufacturer and he’s just hit his limit of production. He can’t be busier.”
For manufacturing businesses needing to run machines, factories and processes in the 30-100kW power range, RedEarth’s PowerOasis works as a fully integrated, ready-to-run, modular Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). This all-in-one system includes batteries, inverters, a Battery Combiner Panel HVAC. There is an option of having an in-built solar PV Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) or AC-coupled solar PV inverters. RedEarth manufactures all the systems in Australia, all the way from the casing boxes, produced by Metal-Tech Industries in Wacol, QLD.
Parmjit Goraya is General Manager of Metal-Tech. The role of the company involves manufacturing metal housing for RedEarth battery storage units to the required specifications, ensuring they were ready to populate.
Metal-Tech has been supplying sheet metal engineering components to RedEarth as well as their early storage company, RedFlow for a while now. Metal-Tech has supported RedEarth from developing prototypes to final production, using state-of-the-art technology and equipment. “This has really taken off after RedEarth developed their line of energy storage products,” said Goraya. “In fact, we are investing in new technologies to keep up with requirements in this sector. The sourcing of skilled welders is a significant barrier for most of the industry currently, whereas sourcing raw materials and fasteners is not a major issue. Metal-Tech have been supplying RedEarth with cases in assembly form, and other precision powder-coated components as finished product. We assemble the cabinet and other subsequent sheet metal parts, and obviously do not assemble electrical components. Our core competencies lie in precision sheet metal components. We are extremely good at producing client-specific requirements including quantities and on-time delivery. Our high-tech equipment combined with years of experience make us a reputable supplier of sheet metal components locally and overseas,” he added.
“Our enclosures are designed specifically for the applications that we’ve identified and targeted in our market,” said Winter. “As well as looking and being resilient to Australian conditions, we have certain characteristics in the enclosure to make it easier for the installer, and make it easier for the end customer to expand the system if their energy needs change.”
Going offgrid and staying offgrid: A case study
Stuart Dawson has a farm and the property has always been off-grid; when he had to replace the existing system (which was in place when he bought the property), he came to RedEarth so he could then upgrade instead of replace. He’s since started to move everything on his farm over to electric power. Dawson’s house was modern in design, with modern requirements; and after living through drought, fires, and the heat, he just wanted to put in modern comforts like air conditioners, fridges, and coffee machines. “We really like the fact it was an Australian company and it was a system that was self-contained and ‘plug-and-play’,” he says, in an interview in the Queensland Agricultural Leaders publication.
Dawson installed 30 solar panels (11kW) and had a RedEarth Honey Badger fully loaded with eight of RedEarth’s own 4.1kWh (total 32.8kWh) LFP Troppo batteries.
“We put up close to the maximum number of panels that we could fit because we wanted that fast refresh rate,” adds Dawson. “By 9:30 am most days, our batteries are fully recharged. Anything after that is free electricity, and if you’re not using it, it’s getting wasted.” So in the long run, Dawson knows the system is saving him money.
“We’re conscious of energy use, but we were wanting more comforts like air conditioning, to make life liveable because when it gets up past 40-plus celsius, it’s unliveable. We wanted a system that was capable of catering to our immediate needs but we also saw the future.”