Investors are going to hear more and more about cutting-edge energy storage systems in the coming years. The trend will be increasingly driven by factors such as energy arbitrage schemes, regulations ordering energy efficiency and increasing investment in renewable energy.
Despite his intentions to revive the coal industry, President Donald Trump has been unable to stop the industry’s bleeding, while the Department of Energy allocates funds for R&D on next-generation technology for long-lasting energy storage. Effectively, this puts another nail in coal’s coffin and simultaneously speaks to the first point about growth in the new energy storage system (ESS) market, which is forecast to top $1 billion by 2022 by Market Research Engine.
In the thick of this growth is diversified resource and technology company MGX Minerals, Inc. (
The company also took ownership of the IP estate of more than 20 granted patents protecting the technology. Recently, ZincNyx was renamed MGX Renewables (MGXR) and the parent company disclosed a plan to spin-out MGXR as a new public company.
Per the plan, MGX Minerals is rewarding shareholders by way of a dividend in shares of MGXR equaling 40 percent of the company. The intentions are for MGXR to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange as part of a going public transaction anticipated for February 2019, pending all requisite approvals. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued an interim order requiring certain approvals by current shareholders of MGX Minerals regarding the planned spin-out. Shareholders are expected to vote on the matter at the company’s annual general and special meeting on January 11, 2019.
Padding its coffers to fund continued growth in all its operations, MGX Minerals last week closed a private placement raising a total of C$6.81 million.
Cost Efficient, Scalable Energy Storage System
The timing of the spin-out dovetails with MGXR entering the final stage of development of its next-generation zinc-air mass storage system. To date, all of the components have been designed, tooled and received, less the fuel cell and regenerator plates that comprise the housings and the final system enclosure. Upon receipt of the necessary components this month and subsystem testing, system level testing will be conducted in January.
Part of the genius of the system resides in the fact that it is broken down into three common subsystems that implement one element of the technology: power generation, zinc regeneration and fuel storage. Integral to the system is the ZRM-4500 regeneration module that uses electricity to extract zinc particles from a solution of potassium zincate. Once separated from oxygen, the zinc molecules are held in a storage tank until power is needed, at which time they are moved to the cell stack and once again combined with oxygen molecules, a process that generates electricity. During re-charging, the oxygen molecules are removed and released into the surrounding air, while the zinc molecules are returned to the storage tank to await their next use.
Successful completion of system testing represents a milestone for MGX, MGXR and the energy industry in general due to the litany of benefits offered by a system using zinc and air instead of costly commodities such as lithium, vanadium and cobalt. Owing to the emergence of electric vehicles and the lithium-ion batteries that power them, prices for key components of these batteries, namely lithium and cobalt, have skyrocketed over fears of supply shortfalls in the future.
In addition to the commodity cost burden, there are fundamental limitations to the linear power-to-storage ratio and a lack of flexibility with lithium-ion energy storage systems compared to zinc-air fuel cell technology.
Notably, the MGXR system allows for scalable power at essentially any ratio that is only limited to the physical size of the fluidized zinc storage tanks (the least expensive part of the ESS). Simply, if more energy is required, the zinc storage tank can be made bigger. The process of transforming the zinc to energy remains the same with no additional modifications to the system necessary.
This means that the MGXR ESS can fill the needs for renewable storage at industry and grid scale for power acquisition and distribution with all the benefits of steady, clean power. Furthermore, the design of the system creates opportunities to take advantage of large swings in power supply and demand not just in overnight scenarios, but potentially for up to seasonal fluctuation.
Charge!
The company has also figured out flexible charging for the ESS, matching discharge through a separate system scaled to parallel supply markets and timeframe of power availability. This is a major competitive advantage over other battery technologies that are limited to a maximum charge and discharge according to the total number of cells because there is no separation between the charge, discharge and storage components.
To lend some color via simple, everyday applications for lithium-ion batteries, consider how a mobile phone must be put on a charger once the battery is drained or how a cordless power tool needs to have the battery removed based upon use to be recharged. The process is very linear.
With the MGXR ESS, the process becomes non-linear, as the separation of the subsystems allows for simultaneous charge and discharge. Moreover, because the systems are independent, the charge and discharge functions can operate at different rates, something unobtainable with Li-ion batteries.
By doing so, arbitrage and cost-savings opportunities are created, as well as the chance to improve localized power infrastructure without the need to new power plants or transmission lines.
The diverse utility of the ESS makes it applicable for a broad range of uses, including replacing commercial and industrial diesel generator backups; grid-scale energy storage for energy trading, stabilizing a green power grid and on-demand power for reducing grid power consumption at peaks. After just one year of ownership, MGXR has evolved tremendously as it moves ever closer to a product launch and becoming a public entity where more investors can take ownership in a leading mass energy storage system.
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