The United States Department of Defense signed a new microgrid project with Redflow of Australia, designing long duration zinc-bromide flow batteries for energy storage, and Ameresco, a Massachusetts-based renewable energy company.
The focus is on repowering an existing installation at the Stewart Air National Guard Base near New York.
The repowered microgrid will integrate Redflow’s long-duration energy storage (LDES) solution, to provide a dispatchable solar and storage resource for peak shaving and energy resilience. The value of the first contract is $2.83 million.
Nicole Bulgarino, Executive Vice President of Ameresco, said: “Together with Redflow, we’re energised to witness how this microgrid will bolster base resilience and set new standards for clean energy advancement, inspiring a green and resilient future for US Department of Defense installations worldwide.”
The installation will offer 1.2 – 1.4 MWh of energy storage to provide necessary energy resilience for critical microgrid loads on the base. Deployment and commissioning of the new system is planned for the second half of 2024.
Redflow has another 270 deployments worldwide. Other North American projects include a 20 MWh zinc-based battery storage for Nomlaki Indians in California.
Ameresco provides renewable energy solutions including landfill gas and biopower, PV panels and wind power to be combined to local microgrids.
The combined microgrid solution is scalable and can be rolled out across several other US military facilities around the world.
Photo: Redflow claims its ZBM3 battery is the world’s smallest commercially available zinc-bromine flow battery
