NYPA signs agreement for planned deployment of zinc-air storage system

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 11, 2021

The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has signed an agreement with Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. and the University at Buffalo for the planned deployment of the company’s zinc-air energy storage system, marking a first demonstration of a long-duration use in New York State and a development that could support further integration of renewable power sources into the electric grid.

“NYPA continues to place a priority on fighting climate change and promoting a clean energy economy, and this first-of-its-kind long-duration solution has the potential to be deployed into a range of scalable applications,” said Gil Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO, in a statement. “The collaboration with Zinc8 and the University at Buffalo bodes well for a successful demonstration project that addresses the need for reliability of renewable energy resources and will help New York State help achieve its targets for energy storage.”

Selection of the site will allow for the demonstration of a 100 kilowatt/1 megawatt-hour zinc-air battery energy storage system in Buffalo to facilitate the wider use of renewable resources.

Zinc8 won a contract to accelerate the new technology in the Innovation Challenge, a partnership between NYPA and the Urban Future Lab at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering.

The deployment will provide peak shaving capability by leveling out peaks in electricity consumption, increase campus resiliency and assist in educating campus utility staff with new energy storage technology, NYPA said.

The project will also validate the performance reliability of the system and help determine the O&M and estimated life cycle costs.

Zinc8’s zinc-air energy storage system will be located less than a few hundred feet from the award-winning UB Solar Strand, a project that NYPA and University at Buffalo completed nearly a decade ago, and the newly relocated GRoW Clean Energy Center.

Under the agreement with Zinc8, NYPA will contribute to the installation costs of the energy storage system at University at Buffalo and share in the data generated during the demonstration period.