Colormaker’s official launch of the new ReVolve® Battery

On Friday 5 April at Brookvale’s 44 Orchard Rd, beneath coal grey skies, torrential rains and in the midst of fierce winds, the sturdiest marquee in the southern hemisphere stood firm, providing the tempest for Colormaker Industries, Northern Beaches’ sustainable paint and ink manufacturer, to officially launch their new 144 kWh ReVolve® solar storage battery. 

Two years in the making, this is a major milestone on Colormaker’s pathway to Net Zero. The ReVolve® battery is groundbreaking technology, made from nine second-life Nissan Leaf EV batteries. Colormaker’s paint production is now completed entirely with electricity produced the day before by their solar array and stored in the ReVolve® overnight. In fact, Colormaker has just passed the milestone of saving 690 tonnes of greenhouse gases through the electricity produced from its 100-kW solar array, installed four years earlier. 

The array was designed to produce twice as much electricity as the business used, but once they became a solar electricity generator, Colormaker also became a lot more conscious of their own use. A new compressor was the biggest factor in getting overall electricity usage down by 23% across the entire site, making them much more energy efficient. 

“Having such a huge energy surplus has been a great enabler for Colormaker,” said MD, David Stuart. “We produce 2.2 times as much electricity as we use, but until recently, we have only been 65% self-sufficient. Since our small battery was installed, for every kWh that we’ve taken from the grid, we’ve put 5 kWh back in. The battery and solar has also enabled us to reduce Demand, a measure of strain on the grid, by 85%.” 

“The ReVolve® battery will assist us in eliminating buying any power during the evening peak, thus taking more strain off the grid, whilst also improving our self-sufficiency.” Stuart said. 

The solar installation proved to be a jumping off point for Colormaker. They also have three EVs for deliveries and staff commutes, an electric forklift (no LPG on site), an energy efficient air compressor, a smaller battery, a mega shredder to give cardboard a second life as packing material, and a new reverse cycle air conditioner in their carbon abatement assets. This month, Colormaker also added a new Mercedes e-VITO electric delivery van to these carbon abatement assets for their Sydney paint deliveries.

The 144 kWh ReVolve battery at Colormaker HQ is the first in the world to be fully certified, commissioned and operating commercially, in this case, as a solar sponge, advised Stuart. “Just imagine what could happen if this technology was deployed not at one small business, but across thousands of businesses and communities across our wide brown land and indeed our South Pacific neighbours. This is the future that we want, and, given our abundant sunshine, that we have an obligation to demonstrate to the rest of the world. It’s one small step for Colormaker and Relectrify, one giant step for Warringah and Australia!”