Posts Tagged zinc storage
ViZn Energy (Formerly Zinc Air Inc.) Launches Blog Talk Radio Program
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on December 22, 2012
ViZn Energy (Formerly Zinc Air Inc.) Hosts Open House and Plant Tour
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on December 4, 2012
Though ViZN Energy’s first out-of-facility installations of its power-storage batteries are a few months away, the company has been expanding so fast it is housing some of its engineers in a trailer behind its Columbia Falls-area building.
The company currently has 45 employees after hiring half a dozen — many from Montana State University — in the last month.
“A lot of these folks are MSU graduates who have had to leave the state for employment and are now finding jobs back here in Montana,” said Kevin Waldher, vice president of business development.
“They really pump out some high-quality graduates between MSU and Montana Tech, and there’s such a work ethic with people from Montana. It’s nice to bring people back, and they’re hard workers.”
The vice president of manufacturing, John Lowell, is an example of someone excited about the opportunity to work in Montana. He left a $7 billion-a-year company in Toronto to join Zinc Air.
The company is developing cutting-edge, patented battery solutions for storing and generating power. Zinc Air products will help solar, wind and traditional power companies by allowing energy to be distributed when it’s needed, not just when it’s produced.
The company is finalizing its Z20 storage unit and received its second patent last week, “which will greatly improve our energy capacity and cost reduction of our systems,” Waldher said.
In the company’s most recent investor newsletter, a message from Zinc Air president Dave Wilkins summarizes the optimistic outlook at the company:
“Zinc Air has methodically and diligently endeavored into the grid storage market. We have assembled the best business, sales, marketing, engineering, electrical and chemical experts from varied industries, including semiconductor, battery and fuel cell, software and electronics and manufacturing.”
The company is looking to begin local installations, its first deployments outside of its own facility, in April 2013. Larger deployments are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2013, Waldher said.
Another recent Zinc Air development is the addition of former CIA director James Woolsey, who has joined the company as chairman of Zinc Air’s senior advisory board.
“Bringing the caliber of someone like Jim Woolsey onto the team takes our industry exposure to another level,” Wilkins wrote in the newsletter. “Jim has been a leader in the renewable industry and provides tremendous insight to the military applications for our technology.”
Zinc Air held a by-invitation open house and plant tour on Thursday.
Zinc Air Inc: A Revolutionary Approach to Storing Energy
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on November 8, 2012
Zinc Air Inc profiled in Bloomberg Business Week
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on October 29, 2012
Zinc Air Inc profiled in Bloomberg Business Week
Zinc Air, Inc. focuses on the development of sustainable energy storage solutions for transportation and smart grid applications. It has rights for the zinc-air fuel cell, a mechanically rechargeable zinc-air fuel cell for remote power and transportation applications. The company has a strategic partnership with Juhl Wind Inc. Zinc Air, Inc. was founded in 2009 and is based in Columbia Falls, Montana.
Zinc Air Inc is getting more attention as information about their revolutionary Zinc Air renewable energy storage grid is being released.
5314-A US Highway 2 West
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
United States
Founded in 2009
Zinc Air Inc Producing Grid Storage System
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on October 22, 2012
Storage is an invaluable human ability. We store food in places where it won’t rot. We store cherished personal mementos. We store information, in far-reaching digital formats and home file cabinets. And we store energy when we can.
But David Wilkins says, for all our strengths in storing life’s necessities, we are sorely lacking in our ability to store one of our most fundamental forms of energy – electricity – on a large scale. His business, Zinc Air Inc., exists to address that void.
Zinc Air, headquartered in a building on U.S. Highway 2 near Columbia Falls, has brought together an accomplished team of scientists and businessmen who boast the types of resumes that let you know they are serious about what they do.
Together, they are preparing to introduce to the market a grid storage system – a battery – that uses flow battery technology and is capable of storing large amounts of electricity with cost-effective efficiency.
Zinc Air, a private investor-funded enterprise, currently has 14 full-time employees, not including subcontractors, but both Wilkins and Hayes say that number will grow substantially. Hayes said his company has “a strong bias toward Montana” and would like to keep operations here, noting that “the state government is aware, very aware, of our desires and has been helpful.”
For more information, go to www.zincairinc.com.
Zinc Air Inc Working for Energy Independence
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on October 1, 2012
The following is an excerpt from an article posted by James Greenberger:
“In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney referred to his plan for the United States to achieve energy independence by 2020. That plan is explained in a little more detail in a document entitled “A Romney Plan for A Stronger Middle Class: Energy Independence”, which was released earlier this week by the Romney-Ryan campaign.
Whether it is realistic to assume that energy independence can be achieved by 2020 is beyond the scope of this column. Nevertheless, the Romney-Ryan plan makes for an interesting read. While the plan proposes to support a wide range of energy production—petroleum, gas, coal, and even renewables—its promise of energy independence centers on the purported existence of large quantities of economically recoverable domestic petroleum and the assumption that a lot more economically recoverable domestic petroleum will soon be discovered.
Energy independence is a laudable goal, even if based on large increases in domestic petroleum production. Although its allegedly favorable impact on gasoline prices is oversold, increasing the domestic production of liquid hydrocarbons would make U.S. energy supplies more secure, improve our balance of trade, and create significant additional domestic employment.
Electricity storage technology, deployed in automotive and grid-supporting applications, is certainly part of the long term solution. Funding the necessary development and deployment of that technology during a period of relative petroleum abundance will be difficult for the private sector to do alone. We should watch with interest what the two campaigns have to say about this issue in the weeks ahead and not allow the country to be lulled into complacency by promises from either campaign of a short term fix.”
Zinc Air Inc. is a company working on solutions for renewable energy storage. Zinc Air understands the technologies and the needs and they have the expertise behind their innovations. For more information, visit www.ZincAirInc.com.
Zinc Air Inc: Prospects for Grid Storage
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on September 20, 2012
Zinc Air Inc Highlighted in Do Business in Montana Newsletter
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on September 17, 2012
Look who Created 33 Jobs!
Zinc Air has created 33 jobs as of today and continues to grow with a goal of creating a total of 42 jobs.
Nine Montana Companies from around the state were honored with an innovative business award at the first annual Governor’s Innovation day and Awards Dinner at Montana State University. Zinc Air, Inc. from Columbia Falls was honored.The company is developing a grid storage system focused on breaking the cost benefit threshold which is currently limiting widespread adoption of alternative energy. Zinc Air is developing and delivering a battery system that is safe, sustainable and cost effective which will allow for a rapid industry adoption, wider social acceptance, and facilitate a reduction of fossil fuel carbon emissions.
For information regarding ZAI’s line of energy storage product contact Mr. Dave Wilkins, CEO – ZAI, at 406-755-9462 (dave.wilkins@zincairinc.com)
Zinc Air Inc: The Prospects for Grid Scale Energy Storage
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on September 11, 2012
The economic engine of the United States uses over 40 quadrillion BTU’s per year, with only a small portion of this being supplied by renewable energy sources (RES’s). The limited adoption of RES’s is primarily due to the unreliable nature of their power production characteristics with regard to consumption. A solution to this problem is large-scale energy storage, which would allow RES’s to be seamlessly integrated into our electrical grid. However, an electrical energy storage method must meet three criteria:
- 1. The device must be safe, environmentally benign, and efficient
- 2. The resources must exist to build the devices
- 3. The device should cost no more than the lowest cost of an alternative energy source such as gas-fired turbines.
ZAI’s Zinc – Iron Flow Battery uniquely meets these requirements and is therefore a long term and logical choice for grid-scale energy storage.
ZAI’s zinc – iron flow battery consists of a zinc / zincate anode, a cathodic iron anion complex in an aqueous alkaline supporting electrolyte, and proprietary high efficiency electrodes in a stack configuration that allows parallel electrolyte feeds without significant shunt losses. The selection of chemistry permits the use of common and low cost materials such as zinc oxide, iron salts, polypropylene, steels, and nickel coatings. The electrochemistry has round-trip energy efficiency comparable to lithium ion, yet as a water-based electrolyte, provides unsurpassed safety. The low cost, safety, and efficiency inherent to this system thereby provides a natural scalability to the megawatt-hour range and above.
The commercialization of the ZAI Zinc – Iron battery has focused on three critical areas:
- Electrodes: ZAI has developed high efficiency (low polarizing at low flowrates and low gassing) electrode designs and alloys that improve the cost of operation of the battery. Consequently, these electrodes allow high power charge and discharge that makes the designs suitable for a variety of revenue streams.
- Electrolytes: Low-cost aqueous electrolyte blends have been developed that improve the deposition quality of zinc and thus capacity and allows extended reliable service. In addition, these electrolyte blends allow higher concentrations of metal salts without the associated problems of precipitation.
- Manifolds: A manifolding system has been developed that minimizes parasitic shunt currents without impeding flow significantly.
Using these innovations, ZAI has developed the Z20-60 (60kW / 120kWh) energy storage system, which is scheduled for production in 2013. The Z20 is a containerized module, designed to be integrated into megawatt-sized systems. The Z20 is among the most cost effective solutions, is location independent, and yet still covers a large application range for flexible revenue options.
It is proposed in this presentation that the energy needs for the world can be reconciled with a combination of RES’s and large scale storage. Zinc is a logical a cost-effective means to achieve this and will allow regional interests to generate their own grid infrastructure with the natural resources at hand. In particular, ZAI’s Z-20 family of products can meet these needs with both high power and high capacity cells suitable for large-scale deployment on the electrical grid, and provides the lowest-risk path to stable carbon emissions, energy security, and the establishment of a safe means to develop our nation.
Zinc Air Inc Working with Wind Farm Technology
Posted by viznenergy in Clean Energy Resources, Green Energy, Renewable Energy Sources, Zinc Battery, Zinc Fuel on September 2, 2012
Juhl Wind Inc. (OTCBB: JUHL), the leader in Community Wind Power, signed a Letter of Intent with Zinc Air, Inc. for the installation of a 1 Megawatt advanced energy storage system developed by Zinc Air. Juhl Wind plans to install the system at its recently acquired Woodstock Hills wind farm located near the Company’s headquarters in Woodstock, Minnesota.
Zinc Air Inc., based in Kalispell, Montana, is the developer of a Zinc Redox flow battery designed to achieve rapid payback periods while also being the greenest battery technology on the market. This competitive storage solution allows a wind farm to store and shift wind power for flexible use by utility operators.
“We selected Zinc Air and its core technology for our first system because we believe it offers the combination of being the most advanced technology along with the most environmentally safe option in the field of energy storage,” stated Dan Juhl, Chairman and CEO of Juhl Wind. “We have carefully studied the growth in storage technologies because we believe large scale storage will unlock the full value of wind power. If we can build a combination wind farm with storage for the cost of a new coal plant, we are confident we can deliver totally clean electricity that can compete head-to-head with the wholesale energy market today and into the future. With no fuel costs and all of the obvious health benefits, if we can deliver a dispatchable resource that is head-to-head competitive, wind power can grow even more rapidly. At Juhl, we want to be on the forefront of this next wave of wind power.”
We look forward to working with Juhl Wind on this initial program and the additional follow-on utility-scale storage systems programs,” stated Dave Wilkins, President and CEO of Zinc Air Inc. “As one of the leading developers of wind power, Juhl Wind is a strategic partner that establishes Zinc Air in the critical wind energy market. The wind energy market and other renewable markets will continue to be a focus for the company in order to best exploit flow battery technology.”
For more information about Zinc Air Inc technologies and how to get involved, please contact Kevin Walder at (406) 755-ZINC (9462). Visit the website at www.ZincAirInc.com.
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