“When we learn how to store electricity, we will cease being apes ourselves.” Thomas Edison, 1910
Zinc Air Incorporated (ZAI)
ZAI
exists to fulfill Edison’s vision of providing reliable and
Montana, just miles from the entrance to Glacier National Park.
plentiful storage to the world. We have leveraged simple, clean
We have brought together a world-class team of scientists,
and efficient energy storage technology which was developed
engineers and business professionals to change the paradigm of
under corporate and the Department of Energy sponsorship.
how we currently generate, distribute and consume energy. Through
We are bringing our battery to market to fundamentally and
cost-effective battery storage, we can facilitate the integration
permanently change the reliability, stability and efficiency of the
of renewable energy and increase the efficiency of existing
existing electrical grid. We are located in the Flathead Valley of
infrastructure, improving the quality of life for seven billion people.
Glacier National park, Montana
Montana
Montana
remains one of the most majestic and pristine
The
Flathead Valley provides an atmosphere that promotes
places on earth. Conservation is not a political statement but
a lifestyle conducive to attracting and retaining quality talent
a way of life. We care deeply about our precious resources
that is dedicated to our mission of completely changing the
because so many of us make our living off the land.
world of energy into one that is reflective of the way we
Wasting anything is not permissable – and we especially cannot
live every day. Our storage technology not only delivers on
tolerate that 57% of the world’s energy produced goes unused.
that promise but it is a platform to rethink grid stability and energy delivery. And, in Montana, this is what we are about.
Storing and Delivering Tomorrow’s Energy
Battery Storage
Zinc Redox – R & D
Renewables are challenged to work on a stand-alone basis,
Our Zinc Redox technology was originally developed under DOE
we have an aging grid that looms as a potential devastating
and corporate sponsorship. The technology underwent ten years
financial catastrophe and we currently waste more than 50% of
of foundational research and development, which provided key
all the energy produced. Battery storage stands as a solution to
insights to electrochemical performance, material compatibility,
improve the performance of existing utility assets and renewable
and design improvements for manufacturability. More than $10
energy installations, and this will facilitate global infrastructure
million was spent establishing the scientific and economic merits
development towards a more sustainable energy future.
of our Zinc Redox technology.
Through cost effective storage, we can dramatically improve
The key differentiators of this technology lie in its safety,
the imbalance of supply vs. demand and remove the direct
abundance of its core raw materials, simplicity of design, and
link between generation and demand that exists today. By
the robust nature of our chemistry. The combination of these
making better use of the energy generated today, we can lower
factors allows ZAI to manufacture the battery using low cost and
greenhouse gas emissions, reduce the need for inefficient natural
readily available construction materials. The Zinc Redox battery
gas peaker plants, and seamlessly integrate renewable energy.
is designed to last 20+ years and provide the lowest life cycle cost for any storage technology.
Technology Commercialization
Ready For Deployment
We have spent three years refining an exceptional technology and
We have met with hundreds of prospective renewables clients
making it a viable, commercial product ready for deployment. We
in addition to utilities, transmission developers and corporate
have been able to rapidly develop a commercial-grade solution
clientele. Our extensive research has provided us a clear view
by partnering with leaders in adjacent industries, and leveraging
of the market trends, needs, and concerns. Our go-to-market
existing technologies, materials and components.
strategy focuses on early adopters where battery storage provides a clear and defined economic benefit. With many states facing
ZAI is working with some of the most established and respected
renewable energy portfolio standards, we have found many wind
corporations and industry professionals to ensure the highest
and solar developers looking to storage as a solution to provide
quality and most reliable delivery. This includes our contract
firmed renewable energy to the grid and distributed communities.
manufacturer, Celestica, which is a $7 billion/year, tier-one player providing world class technical expertise supporting our
Corporations are also instituting green initiatives in which battery
quality standards and projected growth. This positions us well to
storage can play a key role through peak demand reduction,
compete in the short term as well as meet the rapid growth in
improved power quality and integration of distributed renewables.
the coming years.
Finally, utilities are facing closures of many dated and inefficient power plants. Many utilities see battery storage as a key asset in their future portfolios.
The Markets We Serve UTILITIES
COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL
The US wholesale power market has a number of immense
The global economy makes commercial and industrial resource
challenges before it; efficiency, reliability, and the security of
efficiency more important than ever. Today, industry uses batteries
the electric power industry are areas of particular concern. To
for many applications to increase their competitiveness including
expand the flexibility and capability of existing generation and
plant startup, emergency backup and power conditioning. With
transmission assets, there has been a renewed emphasis on
large-scale storage, we can meet these needs in addition to
energy storage. Energy storage technologies can act as “shock
providing demand reduction, load shifting, backup generation,
absorbers” for the grid to improve efficiency and reliability.
and integration of distributed generation from renewables.
We live in an on-demand energy world – electricity must be
Many corporations in the United States and abroad are exploring
produced when it is needed and used once it is produced.
options to stabilize power consumption and reduce cost while
Energy storage breaks this linkage by allowing for operators to
maintaining the reliability and quality of the power coming into
produce and store electricity for later use—as one would in other
the plant. Target industries for battery storage include mining,
commodity markets. This strategy has already been proven to be
manufacturing, cold storage, warehousing and a rapidly growing
successful in the natural gas industry. By optimizing the existing
number of server farms supporting cloud Internet services.
generation assets, less capital is needed to provide a higher level of service. By deploying batteries with existing generation assets, you can increase utilization, efficiency, and economic returns.
Power Quality
Islanding
Demand Response
Peak Shaving
Backup Power
VAR Support
Demand Reduction
Arbitrage
Firming
Load Shifting
Ramp Control
Ancillary Services
Black Start
Asset Utilization
Deferment of Transmission
Load Shifting
RENEWABLE ENERGY Renewables will be a key ingredient in moving our
used to stabilize and balance the system. The
dependence from carbon-emitting energy production
combination of renewables and storage is a winning
to clean energy. For the majority of nations without
combination for residential, commercial, and utility
endless petroleum reserves, energy storage is also
applications. In addition to matching demand
a matter of national security. While cost is the single
versus supply, batteries can be used to reduce the
largest hurdle facing renewable energy, variability
size, scope and cost of renewable installations.
and unpredictability also limit widespread adoption.
Some renewable projects are built to meet specific power needs of a business or community. By
To the extent that demand for power does not coincide
supplementing
with the renewable energy generation, storage can be
power from a battery, the project can be right-sized
peak
power
requirements
with
to provide sufficient power with greater reliability.
Batteries and The Impact To The Current Power Structure Competition Today, the most widely deployed storage technology is
public safety and developmental setbacks have limited their
pumped hydro. While pumped hydro is a proven and
success and appeal. Another flow battery technology using Va-
low cost storage solution, its effectiveness is limited by
nadium has seen limited success, due to the cost of the raw
geography, transmission constraints and public opinion.
material being rare and used in the production of steel. To meet
Even in the best case, this solution only represents a small
the requirements for widespread adoption, a battery must be:
percentage of the storage market where hydro is possible.
• Low cost – Zinc Redox meets the critical price-to performance threshold
Grid scale battery storage is coming to the forefront with many
• Safe – Zinc Redox is the greenest battery solution with all
companies entering the market to reach for the brass ring. Mature
reactants being “sewerable.” The system operates at
technologies like lead acid, lithium and nickel metal hydride all
ambient temperatures and is non-pressurized, non-toxic
have a place in their respective areas of consumer electronics
and non-explosive.
and electric vehicles, but they do not translate to grid storage
• Scalable – Zinc Redox can be scaled up to 100’s of
due to their high cost, safety concerns and chemistry limitations.
Megawatts. • Durable – Zinc Redox system expected lifespan is 20 years
For grid-scale applications, flow batteries are widely accepted as
with scheduled maintenance.
the best solution based upon their ability to store large amounts
• Sustainable – Zinc Redox uses widely abundant and low
of energy decoupled from the amount of power they can produce.
cost materials.
With flow batteries, you can simply store more energy by building larger storage tanks and pouring in more chemistry. There are several competitors in the flow-battery field, but most of them have failed to make their mark due to cost and the toxic/corrosive nature of their chemistry. Zinc/Bromine, Zinc/Chlorine, and Zinc/Cerium are currently being developed, but concerns for the
Intellectual Property Zinc Air has established an impressive intellectual property portfolio with 15 patents pending and five international PTC applications. Recently, the company received notice that its first patent application was allowed, which was critical to our planned cost reductions in the near future. In addition to the filed patents, the company continues to innovate with several additional patent applications in process. The company’s fundamental patent filings cover all areas including core chemistry, system design and battery operation. Several of our patent applications are inter-locking providing additional security of our entire patent portfolio. The company’s patent strategy is being led by its CTO, Ron Brost, PhD, who headed up Ford’s Fuel Cell Patent Committee for eight years. Ron is working closely with our patent counsel, Brooks Kushman, P.C., to ensure the proper execution of our patent strategy and intellectual property development. FULL SIMULATION CAPABILITIES 1. Fluid Flow Simulations
4. Electrode model
2. Electrical / Thermal
5. Structural Models
3. Shunt current Modeling
6. Manufacturing
OUR TEAM Dave Wilkins – CEO
Craig Wilkins – Executive Vice President
25 years of proven management experience in
25 years proven performance in the development and growth of
technology and manufacturing startup environments.
startup businesses in the communications and finance sectors.
Peter Walters – PhD, COO
Kevin Waldher – VP Business Development
30+ years experience of bringing new technologies to market
25 years of financial expertise in the areas of real estate
with HP, Rockwell and Gigoptix, Philips and Wavetronix.
acquisition/development and consumer finance.
Ron Brost – PhD, CTO
Kirk Plautz – VP Sales
Leader in battery and fuel cell development for Ford, CODA
Sales and sales management professional with proven national
Automotive and Delphi Automotive.
account experience in business to business transactions.
Authored over 30
patents and conference papers. Greg Hayes – Marketing John Lowell – VP Manufacturing and Product Development
25 years success track record in strategic communications,
Previously the General Manager of North America for Celestica.
public affairs and clean technology start-ups.
25 years of experience putting new products in the market.
The Company has assembled a world-class Board of Advisors including the scientists with extensive experience in zinc chemistry, electrochemistry and innovative engineering solutions. The Business Advisory Board is comprised of proven leaders in the renewable, manufacturing, military and utility sectors. Jigar Shah
Paul Vallely
Former CEO of SunEdison and The Carbon War Room.
Retired US Army Major General and Senior Military Analyst.
Roger Ballentine
Jim Aivalis
Former senior member of Clinton’s White House Climate Change
Former CEO of ThruBit and 28 years experience in the upstream
Task Force.
oil and gas industry.
David Green
Roy Sweeney
30 years experience. Former Chief Marketing Officer for
CEO Exair Corp with 40+ years experience in manufacturing
McDonalds.
and distribution.
Matt Cheney
William Rich, PhD
Director of CleanPath Ventures and former CEO of Fotowatio
30+ years experience in research, development and marketing in
Renewable Ventures.
the instrumentation field.
ZAI TEAM
Roger Hollandsworth, PhD
Ken Huber
Original engineer on Zinc Redox development team. 40 years
Former consultant at PJM Interconnections applying storage to smart
with Lockheed Martin.
grid.
Robert Selman, PhD
Joseph Monkowski PhD
Original engineer on Zinc Redox development team. 25+ years at
CEO of Pivotal Systems which builds advanced plating measurement
Illinois Institute of Technology.
devices.
John Cooper, PhD
Jerry Elwood PhD
30+ years with Lawrence Livermore and expert on zinc morphology.
Former Director of Climate Change Research Division of DOE and
Jacob Jorne, PhD
23+ years with Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Professor of ChemE at University of Rochester. Considered a
Vern DeWitt
pioneer of flow batteries.
40+ years of plastics expertise. Former President of Webster Plastics.
5314 US Highway 2 West Columbia Falls, MT 59912 TEL: (406) 755-ZINC (9462) www.zincairinc.com