Queensland’s RedEarth Energy Storage has announced the deployment of its first Personal Power Plant (PPP) network as part of its strategy to be the dominant player in Australia’s emerging $19 billion Internet of Energy market.
RedEarth’ products are the only Australian made and owned all-in-one systems certified by the Clean Energy Council.
The company’s PPP infrastructure gives consumers who generate and store their own electricity more options to receive regular income by trading it, selling it to the wholesale market or while on holiday, gifting it to family, friends.
The PPP provides a range of new options over established utility-company-controlled virtual power plants (VPPs) that are designed to prop up the electricity market (and utility company profits) by accessing battery owners’ stored energy only when it suits the utility company and at a price dictated by them.
RedEarth Co-Founder and CEO Charles Walker said RedEarth Personal Power Plants were designed to give consumers control over their power using a variety of RedEarth’s proprietary technologies and battery “bolt-ons” (the Internet of Energy).
“Right now, customers with solar panels can only use their stored energy or feed it back into the grid on terms that suit the electricity retailer. We think people should have a bit more control over their electricity, and RedEarth and the internet of energy gives them that control,” he said.
“The internet of energy is how we turn thousands of individual homes with solar panels and batteries, into a network that optimises the generation, transmission and utilisation of electricity, transforming the existing grid into a new version ready for the 21st century that can use and distribute 100% renewable electricity,” he said.
In partnership with Byron Bay-based Enova Community Energy, the company has begun the roll-out of 100% renewable, PPPs that can be linked, monitored and controlled, to create a community power plant.
Enova customers will be among the first in the country to enjoy the benefits of RedEarth’s PPPs with a field trial currently underway with commercial rollout expected in 2021.
RedEarth is currently negotiating with a range of other businesses, including property developers, to establish similar community-based PPPs.
Once live, RedEarth customers will have the ability to generate and sell, trade or gift their stored electricity to other users on RedEarth’s platform, providing an ongoing income stream while reducing reliance on traditional electricity utilities, de-stressing the grid and doing their bit to address climate change.
RedEarth Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder Chris Winter said the way Australia generated and distributed energy would change dramatically over the next two decades.
“We see what we are doing as part of the enormous change in the electricity industry. We are moving away from the centralised power generation to distributed power generation by handing back customers control over their electricity,” he said.
“The fundamental thing that we do is make our solution easy to deploy and easy to use. It’s not just about screwing a battery to the wall; it’s about having the right hardware, getting it installed correctly, monitoring the whole system and staying in touch with the customer, to keep them up-to-date with the latest opportunities.
“Although we manufacture a lot of hardware, one of our main focuses is managing data, and from this data we are getting knowledge and benefits for our customers.”
RedEarth was established in 2013 as a residential and commercial battery maker and has evolved to focus on building networked energy storage systems that provide a range of financial, community and environmental benefits.
RedEarth is pursuing the development of PPPs in response to the challenges faced by centralised power grids as a result of increasing peak demand and the uncertainty over the future of “baseload” energy generation.
This uncertainty combined with technological improvements with panels and batteries has led to Australia surpassing 2.5 million rooftop solar installations in June 2020. Together the panels have a combined capacity of 11,837 megawatts, the equivalent of around six Liddell power stations.
RedEarth has raised $8.0 million from investors, including the Queensland Government’s Queensland Business Development Fund, to fund growth and research.
RedEarth Energy Storage is 100% Australian-owned and made with all products are fully engineered, factory assembled and tested in Brisbane, Queensland. As well as smaller residential batteries, RedEarth also manufactures larger standalone systems suitable for rural and commercial energy storage.
The company’s products are the only Australian made and owned all-in-one systems certified by the Clean Energy Council, and the Company is certified under quality standard ISO9001:2015.
For more information visit: www.ww2.redearth.energy
