Allegro Energy moves flow battery technology towards scale

Allegro Energy is moving towards commercial scale-up of its long-duration flow battery technology, with the Australian energy storage company targeting applications ranging from mining operations to large-scale utility projects.

The company is also expanding its business development capabilities as it looks to capitalise on growing demand for long-duration energy storage, according to James Googan, Head of Business Development at Allegro Energy.

Googan joined Allegro ten months ago, with more than two decades of experience in the energy industry, including 13 years at Origin Energy.

His role has been focused on helping Allegro commercialise its technology and build a product that can be sold to large utilities and other customers at scale.

Googan's career has spanned energy policy, electricity trading, regulation and asset development, including work on the rollout of NSW's solar feed-in tariff and the state's energy asset sales program.

At Origin, he initially worked in electricity trading, before moving into policy and development roles.

He was subsequently involved in Origin's plans to replace ageing generation assets, including the retirement of the 2,800MW Eraring coal-fired power station.

That eventually led him to Origin's battery strategy, where he helped inform the company's plans to deploy lithium-ion batteries across its portfolio.

The strategy resulted in around $1.5 billion of investment.

More recently, his focus shifted towards identifying technologies capable of providing longer-duration energy storage.

"We worked to identify a number of companies that Origin would make investments in. One of those was Allegro Energy," Googan said.

Googan has now brought that experience to Allegro as the company seeks to move from technology development towards commercial deployment.

Allegro targets long-duration storage

Allegro's technology is based on the architecture of flow batteries, which have been deployed commercially for decades.

The key difference is its patented microemulsion electrolyte, which replaces the more expensive electrolyte traditionally associated with some flow battery systems.

Googan said the microemulsion platform can support different formulations, allowing the technology to be adapted for different requirements.

"Some might be more temperature resilient. Some are more energy dense," he said.

It's an approach that is intended to provide a scalable alternative for applications requiring energy storage over significantly longer periods than conventional batteries.

Allegro is targeting two broad segments.

The first covers smaller systems ranging from 250kW to 10MW, with storage durations of up to eight hours.

For these projects, the company has developed a containerised system designed to simplify deployment.

The system uses standard components, including double-bunded tanks and 40-foot containers, with the objective of reducing installation costs and accelerating deployment.

The second segment covers larger projects of more than 10MW, with durations ranging from eight hours to as much as 100 hours.

For those installations, Allegro plans to use 40-foot ISO containers for the power modules while deploying larger tanks constructed on site.

The company is working with Kansas City-based CST Industries on the tank systems.

CST has built around 150,000 tanks globally and has experience across sectors including oil and gas and utilities.

Mining emerges as key use case

One of the company's emerging applications is energy storage for mining operations, where long-duration batteries could help reduce reliance on diesel generation.

Allegro is currently working with a mining company on a project of less than 20MW and up to 24 hours of storage.

The proposed system would allow the mine to rely on stored renewable energy for most of its electricity requirements, with diesel generation retained as a backup for periods when renewable generation is unavailable.

This model could allow operators to reduce their exposure to rising diesel costs, while retaining generation capacity for periods of low renewable output.

"For 98 to 99 per cent of the time, all throughout the year, you've got power," he said.

"For that one per cent, or one day when the sun doesn't shine, or the wind doesn't blow, you can have a diesel genset sit there."

The approach illustrates one of the potential roles for long-duration storage as renewable generation becomes a larger component of electricity systems.

Instead of eliminating conventional generation entirely, storage can reduce the amount of time fossil-fuel generation needs to operate.

Jena Flow partnership supports scaling

Allegro is also working with German company Jena Flow Batteries, which provides a manufacturing pathway for its battery stacks.

The partnership is intended to accelerate deployment without requiring Allegro to build all of its own manufacturing capacity.

Jena Flow was acquired by Chinese manufacturer Suqian Time Energy, which already had manufacturing capabilities for flow battery systems.

Rather than developing its own stacks from scratch, Allegro supplies its membrane technology while the manufacturing partner integrates it into its existing cell-stack architecture.

The arrangement stands to provide significant manufacturing capacity as demand increases.

Jena Flow can produce power modules in 40-foot containers, with a stated capacity of up to 250MW of power modules per year.

"When bigger customers say, 'I want 100 megawatts,' that's fine," Googan said.

"We can go to STE, and say we need this many by this date, and then they deliver them."

The arrangement gives Allegro a pathway to scale production while retaining control over key aspects of its technology.

Local manufacturing remains important

Despite its global manufacturing pathway, Allegro still positions its systems as Australian-made where possible.

It has sourced many of the components surrounding the battery stacks domestically for its projects, including pipes, pumps, structural components and tanks.

The individual cell stacks are sourced externally, but Googan said much of the surrounding infrastructure can be manufactured or sourced locally.

"Everything else that surrounds it - the pipes, the pumps, the structure, the metal structure around it, the tanks, the poly tanks that are used - all of that can be sourced quite quickly and easily from Australia," he said.

The combination of domestic assembly and international manufacturing will give Allegro flexibility as it scales.

Sales expansion signals next phase

As the company moves towards broader commercialisation, Allegro is also expanding its business development team.

It is currently recruiting for a dedicated sales and market development lead to identify customers, understand their energy requirements and develop new opportunities.

Googan said the role will involve direct engagement with potential customers rather than simply selling an established product.

The expansion comes as Allegro seeks to scale growth, both in Australia and internationally.

The company's smaller systems are aimed at customers looking to deploy projects within the next six months, while larger projects will require more substantial development and construction timelines.

He also highlighted the structure of Allegro as an advantage for people joining the growing business.

"You can really make decisions quickly at Allegro," he said.

"You can influence the direction of the company quickly."