Canadian battery developer Zinc8 Energy Solutions has announced that its inaugural commercial production facility will be built in Ulster County, New York. Based upon comprehensive analysis done by the company, the recently announced US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) manufacturing production credits provide distinct and direct benefits to Zinc8, influencing its production plans in the United States.
Zinc8 Energy Solutions has developed a proprietary flow battery technology that it claims is able to deliver power in the range from 20 kW to 50 MW that can store and discharge energy durations from 4 to 100 hours. Scalability and higher capacity is achieved with an increase in the size of storage tanks that hold zinc particles. The modular battery can be configured to support a wide array of long-duration applications for microgrids and utilities, as well as for commercial and industrial projects.
Unlike lithium-ion technology, which requires new stacks to scale, Zinc8 says it has completely decoupled the linkage between energy and power. This means that scaling Zinc8’s technology can be accomplished by simply increasing the size of the fuel tank and quantity of recharged zinc fuel. According to the manufacturer, the technology promises zero capacity fade over an extensive lifetime, and the batteries are non-flammable, non-toxic and sustainable with stable supply chains for mass production.
The company chose Ulster County in upstate New York after Senator Chuck Schumer personally called the CEO of Zinc8, Ron MacDonald, to urge the company to expand their operations in New York state and particularly to Ulster County.
The Canadian company was enticed to move to the USA as a result of the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit included in the IRA, which provides incentives to battery manufacturers as well as to critical mineral processing companies. Every eligible battery cell will receive a $35 credit, scaling with the capacity of the battery, with incentives to last at their initial level until 2029, before phasing down from 2030 to a phase out stage beginning in 2032.
“This represents some direct and beneficial credit opportunities for Zinc8,” said MacDonald. “It is abundantly clear that with the introduction of the IRA, US policymakers, led by Senator Schumer, are taking real action by introducing incentives that benefit both the climate and the economy. We have received tremendous support both at the federal and state level as we continue to analyze possible sites for our first manufacturing facility.”
Zinc8 signed a letter of intent to move into iPark87, which is the former TechCity campus now being redeveloped as an EPA cleanup site. Schumer said that with Zinc8 as an anchor tenant of iPark87, the Hudson Valley could see up to 500 new, good paying clean energy jobs.
