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Dive Brief:
Zinc-based batteries are poised for wider deployment as energy storage demand surges and potential lithium shortages loom over the next few years, officials with the International Zinc Association told Utility Dive this week.
U.S. zinc battery production is hindered by the high cost of scaling production and safety standards written for far more flammable lithium-ion batteries, according to a June 30 white paper coauthored by Josef Daniel-Ivad, head of the IZA’s Zinc Battery Initiative. Andrew Green, the IZA’s executive director, said in an interview that more work needs to be done to increase awareness of and comfort with zinc batteries among utilities and other end users.
The U.S. has relatively few grid-scale zinc battery installations operating today, with most deployments hosting 1 MW of capacity or less, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. With notable exceptions like Eos Energy, which aims to double production capacity to 8 GWh within two years, most manufacturers operate at smaller scale, Daniel-Ivad told Utility Dive in an interview.
