Featured News

Newsroom

Details
In Redflow
/

Cameron Penfold Paul Fletcher and Tim Harris W(From left) Optus Retail’s Cameron Penfold, Federal Minister Paul Fletcher
with Redflow MD Tim Harris and Redflow batteries

Australian energy storage company Redflow Limited has partnered with Optus to deploy Redflow batteries as part of the Australian Government’s network Mobile Network Hardening Program. The Honourable Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, Paul Fletcher visited Redflow’s Brisbane headquarters to launch the initiative, which is funded in part by the Government’s bushfire relief package.

Minister Fletcher said: “I welcome the fact that Redflow’s innovative Australian technology is being used by Optus in their mobile base station battery upgrades, funded under the Morrison Government’s Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters (STAND) program.”

Earlier this week, Optus installed its first Redflow battery system under the Government’s program at a black spot site in Lexton, Victoria.  It is planning to deploy Redflow batteries in at least 56 black spot sites as part of the program. Optus has also used Redflow batteries in the environmentally sensitive Daintree Forest in Queensland since 2019.

Details
In Newsroom
/

Leith Elsegood, principal of Redflow WA partner, TIEC ElectricalWA stockfeed supply company Semini Custom Feeds has ordered a 60-battery Large Scale Battery (LSB) – Australia’s largest Redflow-based energy storage system - to cut its fuel and energy costs by 80 per cent.

Working with Redflow’s WA partner, TIEC Electrical, Semini Custom Feeds expects the 600 kilowatt-hours (kWh) system to cut its costs by about $120,000 per year based on current expenditure on diesel, maintenance and mains power.

The Redflow LSB is a powerful integrated system for deploying as many as 60 Redflow zinc-bromine flow batteries in large energy storage systems, delivering as much as 600kWh of energy storage capacity and comprehensive redundancy capabilities. Once the Redflow LSB and 400 kilowatts-peak (kWp) photovoltaic (PV) solar panel system is deployed, the family-owned business, located at Cowaramup, 260km south-east of Perth, near Margaret River, will also eliminate its need to buy electricity from the grid. The design aims to mitigate 80 per cent of the diesel and servicing costs and all costs for grid-connected services.

The Semini Custom Feeds order is the latest success for TIEC Electrical and Redflow in the WA agricultural sector. Last year, TIEC installed Redflow batteries at multiple rural sites including a WA orchard that has beaten bushfire blackouts and a rural “dream home” that has saved more than $100,000 by not connecting to the electricity grid.

Semini Custom Feeds CEO and Managing Director Jack Semini said the Redflow batteries, coupled with PV solar panels, would greatly reduce the company’s operational overheads. “Once TIEC has set up this system, it will greatly reduce the amount of diesel we need, which will be good for both our profitability and for the environment,” he said.

Details
In Enphase Energy
/

After a year of record sales that defied the economic impact of the global pandemic, Australia’s solar energy industry is poised for more growth in 2021 predicts Enphase Energy General Manager APAC Wilf Johnston. 

Enphase Energy General Manager APAC Wilf JohnstonMr Johnston said he expected next year to continue the current residential sales trajectory as consumers took advantage of lower prices, smarter technology and higher standards that would reduce the risk of fires and raise the overall quality bar for the industry.

Enphase Energy is the world’s leading producer of microinverters, smart devices that convert Direct Current (DC) energy produced by solar panels into Alternating Current (AC) energy, which can be used safely in homes and shared with the grid. Enphase technology deploys a microinverter under each solar panel – rather than a single inverter for the entire solar PV system - which delivers greater safety and reliability, panel-level monitoring and maximum performance across all roof types and in all conditions.

Mr Johnston, who has led Enphase in Australia for the past two years 19, has worked in the Australian solar industry for more than 12 years, beginning when he headed up the engineering and commercial project team at SunPower Corporation, then later as General Manager of Energy Matters and Flex. 

Details
In Lifeflow Meditation Centre
/

Lifeflow Meditation Centre Director of Teaching John Burston Adelaide’s Lifeflow Meditation Centre has launched a purpose-designed online meditation course to help people deal with the mental and emotional stress caused by SA’s six-day COVID-19 lockdown.

The Frewville-based not-for-profit organisation, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, has made the first lesson of the course available for free, so anyone can benefit from it without a cost.

After Lifeflow Meditation Centre had to close its doors during the first pandemic lockdown in March this year, it scrambled to provide its members with online support to help them maintain and enhance their meditation practices. Since then, it has redesigned its free Come & Try Meditation classes for online access - attracting nearly three times as many people during 2020 as in 2019.  

The Centre has also redeveloped its entry-level six-week Introduction to Meditation program, which has run in test mode with a limited number of students for the past two months. With Wednesday’s announcement of the six-day lockdown, Lifeflow has accelerated its launch, so that house-bound South Australians can get immediate access to its benefits. The first 30-minute lesson of the program is available for free online at https://meditationacademy.lifeflow.com.au/courses/learn-to-meditate.

More News...

  1. Enphase report warns Australians may pay for cheaper solar systems through greater fire risk (10 November 2020)
  2. AC Solar Warehouse braces for Victorian demand as ‘COVID premium’ drives 30% surge in national sales (02 November 2020)
  3. Greenfox teams with carbonTRACK to deliver smart storage that beats South Africa’s flaky power grid (10 September 2020)
  4. UK consortium including carbonTRACK wins UK grant to deploy VPP-enabled energy trading system (07 September 2020)
  5. Mojo Power chooses carbonTRACK to deliver smart energy management tools for its customers (03 September 2020)
  6. Redflow and carbonTRACK collaborate to add Virtual Power Plant functionality to flow batteries (02 September 2020)
  7. New NT partner opens up Top End opportunities for Redflow (23 June 2020)
  8. Five major global retailers sign up as COVID-19 turbocharges growth for Australian digital ad platform CitrusAd (23 June 2020)
  9. Gamba grass: Controlling the nightmare (03 June 2020)
  10. Hand-washing in the bush: Traditional ‘soap’ plants provide alternatives to hand sanitisers (23 May 2020)