Australian energy giant Origin Energy Power has purchased a 5 per cent equity stake in ReNu Energy’s investee company, Allegro Energy, for a total of $4 million.
Origin’s initial investment in Allegro means ReNu now holds approximately 4.86 per cent of Allegro’s issued share capital, which it acquired in December 2021 for $450,000, ReNu said in an ASX announcement issued today.
The funding will be used to support the development of a 60 MWh pilot Redox Flow Battery (RFB) and also enable Origin to support Allegro all the way through to funding its first gigafactory.
Allegro Energy has developed water-based RFB and supercapacitors that are clean, non-flammable, non-corrosive, and recyclable with no reliance on scarce materials. The company’s water-based electrolyte was leveraged for both products, which allows energy storage that is potentially much less expensive and safer than competing technology.
The initial $4 million investment from Origin will be used to develop an 800 kWh pilot RFB at Origin’s Eraring Power Station.
Origin has the option to make further investments in Allegro, including supporting the deployment of a 60 MWh RFB to be installed at one of Origin’s facilities.
“This is a powerful endorsement of our proprietary battery technology and an exciting moment for our team. Origin’s support will help us develop large-scale manufacturing of our RFBs which will deliver a cleaner, cheaper and safer global storage solution to the worldwide energy market,” said Thomas Nann, co-founder and CEO of Allegro.
“Origin’s stake in Allegro provides strong evidence of the need by energy retailers and others in the sector to answer the long-duration energy storage challenge, which McKinsey has estimated represents a total addressable market of US$3.5 trillion.”
