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https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-made-world-first-battery-with-no-inverter-hits-the-market-backed-by-new-grant-from-arena/>
"Melbourne-based battery company Relectrify is open for sales after officially
launching its “world-first” commercial-scale battery product, which has been
more than 10 years in the making.
CEO Jeff Renaud says the company is targeting the commercial and industrial
sectors initially with the AC1 system, and it hopes that first orders are
received in the next few weeks, with deliveries to start from April next year.
Relectrify is being helped by a $25 million grant from the Australian Renewable
Energy Agency (ARENA) that will help the company make and install the first 100
MWh of its AC1 systems.
The AC1 battery is a 250 kilowatt (kW), four hour unit made up of 24 “packs”,
in turn made up of off-the-shelf cells and hardware.
The Australian bit is the innovative operating system which individually
controls each of the 24 cells within a pack, a system that allows it to both
produce AC electricity and get 20-30 per cent more power out of a whole pack.
ARENA says this is a “world first” because it means a battery management
systems replaces the usual inverters, reduces degradation, and allows for 20
per cent more energy to be produced over the life time.
The operating system itself converts the current from DC to AC by switching the
individual cells on and off at different voltages – one cell on for three
volts, two cells for six volts, three cells for nine volts and back down – to
create an AC sine wave in real time.
This is necessary because the electricity inside batteries is a DC current, but
the energy running through the grid is an AC current. That means rooftop solar
and batteries need inverters to switch between the two, an extra piece of kit
which makes both technologies slightly more expensive.
Removing the inverter means they can sell the AC1 at prices on par with cheap
Chinese imports – or even lower, Renaud says."
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
