Allegro Energy, an Australian-based developer of water-based redox flow battery energy storage solutions, has been awarded AU$1.85 million (US$1.17 million) in federal government funding to scale its technology.
Announced last week, Allegro, which attracted AU$17.5 million in Series A funding from investors including Origin Energy, Melt Ventures and Impact Ventures last year, will use the finance to scale its redox flow battery technology for mass production.
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Allegro Energy makes water-based redox flow batteries and supercapacitors, which contain no scarce materials and include fully recyclable components. Allegro’s flow batteries and supercapacitors integrate a water-based electrolyte, making energy storage less expensive and safer. The company states that this “opens up the ability to address needs at a global scale”.
According to the Australian government, Allegro’s technology is well-suited to the long-duration energy storage market, which it anticipates being worth more than AU$3 trillion globally by 2040.
CEO and co-founder of Allegro Dr. Thomas Nann agrees with the government’s assumption, adding that it will help maintain grid reliability when there is low output from variable renewable energy generation.
“Our long-duration energy storage solution is perfectly suited for large-scale storage of renewable energy to ensure that the lights don’t go out when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow,” Dr. Nann said.
“The IGP grant will allow us to accelerate our production capability in Australia while further improving our product. We are very grateful for the government support.”
Origin Energy hedges bets with 12-hour duration system
Readers of Energy-Storage.news may be aware that Origin Energy, an Australian utility giant, secured a 5% stake in Allegro Energy in July 2023.
Under the terms of the partnership, the two parties will collaborate to develop a pilot project using Allegro’s redox flow batteries. The project will be located in Newcastle, north of Sydney, in New South Wales. It will first see a 800kWh battery deployed before deploying a 12-hour duration (5MW/60MWh) battery energy storage system (BESS).
Allegro said the Eraring site requires minimal preparation works prior to installation, which are expected to commence in August 2023, with the battery set to be commissioned in late 2024.
The project will be located south of Newcastle in Eraring, where Origin is currently constructing two BESS: one 240MW/1,030MWh and one 460MW/1,073MWh. It is situated near Australia’s largest coal-fired power plant.
The black coal power plant provides 2,880MW to the National Electricity Market (NEM). In early 2022, Origin said it would be retiring the coal-fired power plant in 2025, yet in May 2024, the New South Wales government controversially extended this by an additional two years to “guarantee a maximum of electricity supply”. The new expected closure date is scheduled for August 2027.
