Chris Bowen visited Australian storage stand, and bought a solar battery called Troppo

Federal energy minister Chris Bowen has been a regular visitor to clean energy expos and conferences since he was appointed in 2022 – a notable commitment given that his predecessor Angus Taylor steadfastly refused to – and it turns out he’s a buyer of technology as well.

Bowen revealed at the Smart Energy Conference in Sydney on Thursday that during his visit to the same event last year he had been so impressed by the products of Australian battery storage company RedEarth that he ended up buying one.

“At last year’s exhibition I went to the stand of an Australian owned and operated battery manufacturer, Red Earth.  I checked out their products closely,” Bowen said (RenewEconomy had actually snapped a photo of his visit at the time, see above).

​”And as a direct result of that visit, I now have one helping power our house and supporting the grid very efficiently.”

The 5kW, 12 kWh “all in one” battery system is supporting the 6.5kW rooftop solar system at the Bowen house, which is supplied by another Australian manufacturer, the Adelaide-based Tindo Solar. Bowen also drives a Tesla Model 3 electric car, which is not made in Australia.

RedEarth co-founder and CEO Charlie Walker said the battery component of the system Bowen bought is called “Troppo”, and the total system, which includes the inverter and battery management, is called Sunrise.

“It’s up and running and making him money. I think he liked the fact that it was made in Australia, and it had a good management systems,” Walker told RenewEconomy.

Bowen did another quick walk through the conference exhibition area after his speech on Thursday, stopping at several Australian owned companies, including Tindo, and another battery storage company called Power Plus – possibly helped by the fact that many of its staff were wearing Akubras.

He also had a close look at the Kia EV9 electric people mover, and the high performing Kia EV6 GT. ironically, RedEarth does not have a stand at this year’s SEC event.

Ironically, RedEarth was not at the SEC conference this year.

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of the EV-focused The Driven. Giles has been a journalist for 40 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.