Zinc8 gets U.S. Senate support for manufacturing plant

Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. has garnered the support from the U.S. Senate majority leader Charles E. Schumer (Democratic — New York) for Zinc8 to establish a manufacturing facility in Ulster, N.Y., which is the former TechCity Site location.

As detailed through a press release issued today by the office of Mr. Schumer, the Senator has connected with the chief executive officer of Zinc8 Energy Solutions, Ron MacDonald, to consider the town of Ulster as a potential site for a manufacturing facility and cement the State of New York’s leadership as an emerging global battery manufacturing hub.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in 2021, has set aside $6-billion for federal incentives meant to expand capabilities of the U.S.-based battery research and development, bolster domestic battery production, and shore up the American supply chain in an industry often reliant on foreign sources.

The carbon reduction policies and programs of the Biden Administration and the State of New York are instrumental for companies such as Zinc8 to bring leading-edge clean energy solutions to full commercialization and the well-paying sustainable employment in the new green economy.

“Zinc8 is evaluating potential manufacturing sites in the northeastern U.S. and have been very impressed with the locations and related facilities in New York,” said Mr. MacDonald. “Having the support of Senator Schumer for our company and technology will weigh heavily on our decisions on where to locate our first major production facility.”

Zinc8 Energy Solutions focuses on developing and commercializing its low-cost, long-duration ZESS (Zinc8 energy storage system) for utilities, microgrid, and commercial and industrial markets. By using the patented ZESS as a stand-alone or an enabling technology, it allows opportunities for peak demand reduction, time-of-use arbitrage, and participation in both the value-stacking programs and the distributed long-duration energy storage space, all in conjunction with the opportunity for a significant reduction in carbon footprint. The long-duration (eight to 100-plus hours) ZESS has no fire and explosion risk, has no capacity fade over extensive lifetime, and offers complete charge operational flexibility.

About Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc.

Zinc8 has assembled an experienced team to execute the development and commercialization of a dependable low-cost zinc-air battery. This mass storage system offers both environmental and efficiency benefits. Zinc8 strives to meet the growing need for secure and reliable power.

More about the Zinc8 energy storage system (ESS)

The Zinc8 ESS is a modular energy storage system designed to deliver power in the range 20kW – 50MW with capacity of 8 hours of storage duration or higher. With the advantage of rechargeable zinc-air flow battery technology, the system can be configured to support a wide range of long-duration applications for microgrids and utilities. Since the energy storage capacity of the system is determined only by the size of the zinc storage tank, a very cost-effective and scalable solution now exists as an alternative to the fixed power/energy ratio of the lithium-ion battery.

Technology

The Zinc8 ESS is based upon unique patented zinc-air battery technology. Energy is stored in the form of zinc particles, similar in size to grains of sand. When the system is delivering power, the zinc particles are combined with oxygen drawn from the surrounding air. When the system is recharging, zinc particles are regenerated, and oxygen is returned to the surrounding air.

Applications

The flexibility of the Zinc8 ESS enables it to service a wide range of applications. Typical examples include:

• Smoothing energy derived from renewable sources such as wind and solar
• Commercial/Industrial backup replacing diesel generators
• Industrial and grid scale, on-demand power for peak shaving and standby reserves
• Grid-scale services such as alleviating grid congestion, deferring transmission/distribution upgrades, energy trading and arbitrage, and increasing renewable energy penetration.

Architecture

The Zinc8 ESS is designed according to a modular architecture that enables a wide variety of system configurations to be created from a small number of common subsystems. Each subsystem implements a single element of the technology:

• The Zinc Regeneration Subsystem (ZRS) provides the recharging function
• The Fuel Storage Subsystem (FSS) provides the energy storage function
• The Power Generation Subsystem (PGS) provides the discharging function

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