Redflow ZBM2 zinc-bromine flow batteries are now storing solar energy to provide a reliable power supply for a remote village in mountainous northern Thailand that has long lacked electricity.

In a project backed by the Thai Government, the village of Ban Pha Dan in Lamphun province is using solar cells to harvest energy and a high-performance hybrid battery system, including ZBM2s, to store energy for a village microgrid that is separated from the national electricity distribution network.

Ban Pha Dan, 70km south of the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, is a small village that has lacked access to electricity because it is surrounded by a wildlife reserve where power poles are forbidden. This microgrid project was initiated by Thailand’s Energy Ministry and the Renewable Energy for Sustainable Association with financial support from the Energy Conservation Promotion Fund.



The Ban Pha Dan energy storage system combines 10 Redflow ZBM2 10 kilowatt-hour zinc-bromine flow batteries with three lithium batteries. Redflow’s long-term partner in Thailand, TSUS Group, installed the ZBM2 batteries to store solar-generated energy that powers the community school, town hall and temple while the lithium batteries supply energy for individual houses, each of which uses less than one-fortieth of the daily power consumed in an average Australian house. The locally-produced energy also enables villagers to power water-supply systems for drinking and agriculture.