Air-breathing zinc rechargeable battery breaks cost barrier

Business news | October 1, 2018

By Rich Pell

The battery system is monitored in real time in the cloud and has been deployed in nine countries with more than 3,000 systems supporting 110 villages and 1,000 installations across cell tower sites. Over 100 patents cover the technology. These have eliminated 1m lead acid batteries and the useo f 4m litres of diesel for generators.

Volume manufacturing will start in 2019, says the company, Formerly known as Fluidic Energy, which is owned by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong who also owns the LA Times newspaper.

“We have made the safest, de-risked, globally-deployed system in the world with a six-year history of over 1,000,000 cycles to date,” said Chuck Ensign, Chief Executive Officer of NantEnergy. “It’s remarkable because this eliminates the need for lead, lithium and cobalt, which are scarce and dangerous materials.”

“The combination of the technology, using intelligent software and the cloud, and nature, using solar, oxygen and zinc, have made this a truly scalable energy solution for the world,” explained Ramkumar Krishnan, NantEnergy’s Chief Technology Officer. “Over the past six years, we’ve worked to bring the cost down so that we can make this green energy more widely available.”

“The proven deployment of the NantEnergy air breathing zinc cell storage system, together with clear pathway to sub $100 kWh costs, is a potential game-changer for affordable electricity and reducing hydrocarbon usage in emerging market countries,” said Sean Petersen, Principal Investment Officer at International Finance Corporation (IFC) Venture Capital, part of the World Bank and an early investor in the technology.

“This is particularly compelling in our markets where we see an increasing penetration of renewables,” said Petersen. “An affordable energy storage can deliver real results in off grid and island environments.”

www.nantenergy.com