Renewable energy

The storage of renewable energy is a topic I have been interested in for many years. I believe the ability to store the energy is critical to its success. I found the article by Maria Skyllas-Kazacos published in The Conversation on 3 January 2025 very interesting.

Australia needs better ways of storing renewable electricity for later. That’s where ‘flow batteries’ can help

Flow batteries can feed energy back to the grid for up to 12 hours – much longer than lithium-ion batteries, which only last four to six hours.

The ConversationMaria Skyllas-Kazacos

I researched battery technologies in 2016 and came across an Australian listed company called Redflow Limited (Redflow). Redflow was developing, manufacturing and selling zinc bromine flow batteries. Initially their products were to be used in homes and commercial premises to improve the investment in solar installations. A little later Reflow started to concentrate on supplying batteries to mobile phone operators to provide power for remote phone towers. More recently Redflow was starting to move into micro grid capable batteries.

I considered energy storage to be so important I purchased a few shares in Redflow Limited (ASX:RFX) in 2017. I subsequently participated in capital raisings undertaken by the company, including one as recently as May 2024. Not long afterwards, Redflow Limited announced it was in financial distress. The company was placed into voluntary administration on 23 August 2024, and according to the ABC News article, as the company is without a buyer, it is now being wound up.

Redflow was the great hope of Australian manufacturing. Its collapse left customers with broken batteries

Redflow had political backing and a soaring ambition to sell energy storage to the world, but its $10,000 batteries regularly failed within months of installation leaving customers out of pocket.

ABC Newstechnology reporter James Purtill

There are many aspects to this experience with renewable energy storage, ranging from reinforcement of the need for renewable energy storage, to the lessons I have learnt on investing in a start up business. In this article I am covering what I still believe is critical, the need for renewable energy storage.

Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines require cost effective energy storage to cover the significant periods of limited generation. These include when the sun isn't shining such as overnight, and during overcast and rainy days, and when the wind isn't blowing. I do not believe there is a single, proven and cost effective renewable energy storage solution available today. However, I believe there are likely to be viable alternatives in the not too distant future. What form these storage solutions take is likely to depend on many factors, including how and where the renewable energy is generated, how much energy is generated, and how long the energy will need to be stored for. I believe solutions will consist of a combination of technologies, and likely include batteries similar to today's lithium ion batteries for short term storage, and flow batteries and pumped hydro for longer term storage.

The other really important issue is fully understanding our long term energy needs. Australia has heavy industries requiring huge energy resources, and hopefully will develop other high energy intensive industries, such as green hydrogen production. Again, it is unknown if renewable energy will be able to meet the needs of these industries without further improvements in energy sources, storage and manufacturing.

I believe we all need to reduce our overall electricity usage, where we can. This includes ensuring all new products purchased are not only produced as efficiently as possible, but also operate efficiently. All new buildings need to be energy efficient. It will be unlikely that renewable energy will meet our needs if we continue to use energy as we do today, and certainly not if our energy use grows as it has recently.

Unfortunately, today's businesses operate on the basis of continually increasing production, but not all production is essential or worthwhile. Businesses will produce whatever they believe they can sell, so it is up to the consumer to start taking control over what is necessary and worthy of their expenditure. Decisions such as purchasing a cheep product which will need to be replaced in couple of years or purchasing a better product and using it for many years, and one that can be passed on to someone else when it is no longer required, will become increasingly important. Every decision to produce a product or provide a service will need to be assessed to ensure the whole of life value is worth the energy needed to produce and run the product or service. I don't believe we as a society are particularly good at these sorts of decisions. Those making the decisions to produce a product or service are likely to select those that provide the greatest benefit to them, not the consumer or the environment.

I have witnessed the difficulty in convincing others of the need to spend a little more to ensure on-going running costs are reduced and the product has a long and viable life. In mid 2017 when we built a new home I insisted on installing an electric heat pump hot water system rather than several small instantaneous gas hot water systems. We have enjoyed the benefits since then, and will hopefully keep enjoy the benefits for many more years. I also pushed for substantial increases in insulation in the ceiling, and external and internal walls, even though the standards didn't require it. Research showed an increase of 50% above the current standard provided huge benefits in reducing heating and cooling requirements of a home for minimal additional cost. However, my attempts to have double glazed windows installed were laughed at as we live in Sydney, and double glazing was unheard of in this region. After trying numerous times to get a quote for double glazing, I had to give up or risk delaying the whole project at considerable cost to me. Regulations have since changed and I still regret not having installed double glazed windows.

This is where government needs to step in and ensure all standards are reviewed and updated where latest research and developments support a change. We have to start somewhere. If consumers don't purchase products that have a poor life cycle, and cost more to run and maintain, businesses won't produce them and we will all be better off.

All energy storage systems loose energy in the storage and transmission processes. So the less energy we need, the more efficient the system is. The closer to the source of the energy it is used, the more energy we have to use. This is why rooftop solar panels work so well. This would be improved if we had cost effective ways to store energy we need to use overnight or for a week or more of overcast days. An active government would consider dircting investment in domestic and commercial solar and batteries at the local level which could be paid for by the users as if they were using a grid based system.

It all needs more thought, discussion and investment. I have always said if Australians put as much effort into selecting their representatives in government, and in the decisions they make in their purchases, as they do in selecting their football teams, we would all be much better off.