Canada’s e-Zinc raises $25 M to advance long-duration energy storage

Canadian energy storage solutions provider e-Zinc has raised USD $25 million in Series A financing led by Anzu Partners, with additional funding from BDC Capital, Toyota Ventures, and Eni Next.

Existing investors, including Seed Round lead investor Energy Foundry, also participated. e-Zinc will use this funding to commence the pilot production of its first commercial energy storage systems for field deployment.

The Toronto-based corporation claims to have developed a breakthrough electrochemical technology for storing energy in zinc metal. This low-cost, flexible, and long-duration energy storage solution will provide the platform for the world’s energy markets to be fully powered by renewable energy, enabling a zero-carbon energy future, says the company.

As reliance on intermittent renewable energy increases across the world, there is higher demand for long-duration energy storage assets that enhance the reliability and resiliency of renewable energy assets.

“e-Zinc recently validated that its zinc-air battery can discharge energy for several days at rated power, compared to only a few hours for most other battery types. Paired with renewable energy sources, e-Zinc’s battery can enable a 100 percent renewable energy future,” said an official statement.

In the near-term, e-Zinc aims to displace diesel generators as low-emission alternatives for half-day to five-day backup power use cases. e-Zinc’s battery can also be paired with renewable energy generation to replace the need for fossil fuels in remote or off-grid applications. For example, e-Zinc is partnering with the California Energy Commission to show how e-Zinc’s battery can power businesses through multi-day outages caused by natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, or floods.

“Since raising seed funding in 2020, we have refined our technology and achieved many critical technical milestones, such as demonstrating how our system pairs to solar and grid generation, developing the Balance of System (BoS), and implementing a software and controls layer,” said James Larsen, CEO of e-Zinc. “With this Series A financing, we now have the opportunity to execute high-value commercial pilot projects that provide in-field validation for our batteries.”

“Anzu sees tremendous potential in zinc-air batteries to support renewable energy in both on- and off-grid applications,” said David Michael, Managing Partner at Anzu Partners. “We are enthusiastic about e-Zinc’s vision for a renewable energy future, and we look forward to supporting the company to demonstrate the value of its technology in real-world settings.”