ESS Inc, ESI partner on 3.2 GWh iron flow battery manufaturing site in Australia

US-based ESS Inc and Australia’s Energy Storage Industries (ESI) have secured AU$25 million in funding from the Queensland government plus AUD 40 million in private capital to support construction of a 400 MW/3.2 GWh long-duration storage manufacturing site.

Hugh McDermott, senior vice president of business development, ESS Inc, told ESS News that his company will start shipping components to ESI site in Maryborough, Queensland, in the first quarter of 2025. ESI aims to produce 200 MW/1.6 GWh of energy storage annually by the end of 2026 before expanding to 400 MW/3.2 GWh by 2029.

Under the agreement, ESS Inc will provide iron-flow battery modules manufactured at the company’s site near Portland, Oregon, as well as electrolyte management components. ESI then has the rights to assemble and manufacture ESS Inc’s long-duration storage in the region. “They will be sourcing everything else possibly leveraging our supply chain or Australian supply chains to do containers, pumps, motor drives, plumbing etc,” said McDermott.

Speaking to ESS News at Solar + Storage Live in Birmingham, United Kingdom, McDermott said the establishing a manufacturing base for ESS Inc storage containers in Australia was part of the company’s wider strategy for entering new markets.

“Our strategy in expanding our capacity is to basically localize as much as possible in all the major markets we’re going to be serving,” he said.

ESI commissioned the first ESS iron flow battery in Australia at the National Battery Testing Centre at the Queensland University of Technology. The Australian renewables business has also installed a 1 MW/10 MWh iron flow battery system at Stanwell Corporation, Queensland’s state-owned energy generation business.

McDermott said ESS Inc opted to establish manufacturing in the Australian market due to the country’s targets around renewable generation and decarbonization. The senior vice president said the company views any market with strong renewables targets as one with potential.

He confirmed to that ESS Inc has ambitions in Europe and would expect to open a manufacturing site “somewhere in the region” in the next few years. 

Founded in 2011, ESS manufactures long-duration energy storage (LDES) systems for utility- and commercial-scale energy storage applications. The company’s technology uses iron, salt and water to produce solutions that provide up to 12 hours of flexible energy capacity.