Brisbane company joins solar subsidy scheme

Brisbane’s Redbank Technologies has become the first Australian company to be accepted into the South Australian Government’s $100 million Home Battery Scheme.

The company’s Australian made Smart Hybrid Inverter is one of ten brands of battery and related products accepted into the scheme which will help up to 40,000 homes install solar photo voltaic (PV) power plus battery storage.

The local alternative joins foreign battery makers sonnen and Alpha ESS which have established manufacturing operations in Adelaide, and Eguana Technologies which is making storage systems in the SA capital.

Redbank’s offering combines a 5kW solar inverter, storage software and a battery cabinet to control energy generation and consumption in real time.

The systems are also available under a smaller Queensland scheme which is open to 1,500 homes.

Yesterday the Queensland government announced $4 million in funding to help Redback develop a smart energy monitoring platform.

Redback will employ up to a further 109 technical and professional staff at its University of Queensland St Lucia laboratory.

Redback managing director Philip Livingston said the smart power monitoring platform would enable home owners and businesses to understand and control their energy usage.

“The support of the Queensland government will enable Redback and our partners to create a platform ecosystem, using big data to drive better outcomes for energy users and energy businesses,” he said.

“This technology will benefit industries beyond energy.”

Meanwhile in Adelaide Managing director of sonnen Australia Nathan Dunn said the company had found a ready pool of talent and hired 50 to assemble batteries at its factory housed in the former Holden plant in Elizabeth.

“Our goal is to ultimately increase the level of Australian sourced components to build a battery that is fully made in SA,” he said.

While Australia is set to be the world’s biggest market for home batteries in 2019, sonnen is also looking towards export opportunities into New Zealand, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.

Picture: Redback Technologies

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