Canadian headquartered Zinc8 Energy Solutions will move ahead with the planned deployment of its zinc-air energy storage system in the US.
The demonstration in Buffalo, New York, will explore how the 100kW/1MWh storage system can facilitate the integration of renewable resources into the state’s energy mix.
The move follows the signing of a Host Site Agreement with the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (UB).
The collaboration with NYPA marks the first deployment of first long duration storage use in New York State.
The primary functions of the system will be to provide peak shaving capability to increase the University’s North Campus resiliency and assist in training staff with new energy storage technology.
It will also be connected to the Baker Chilled Water Plant, which provides a cooling capacity of 168 million BTUs per hour.
Under the agreement NYPA will contribute to the installation costs of the system at UB and share in the data generated during the demonstration period.
New York State’s aggressive energy storage goal means it must deploy 3GW by 2030 and support a nation-leading commitment of 100% electricity from zero carbon emission sources by 2040.
Tonga Pham, UB associate vice president of facilities, said ” Although the project will mainly be used for peak shaving research, we are also interested in exploring alternative uses, such as emergency back-up for our campus buildings, gaining insight into the life cycle cost for alternative energy sources, and introducing our staff to the latest technology.”