In this episode of This Week in Solar, host Aaron Nichols sits down with Brett Simon, Director of Commercial Strategy at e-Zinc, a long-duration battery storage manufacturer.
Brett explains what makes e-Zinc’s zinc-based hybrid flow battery different from the lithium systems most people know (and why that’s huge under the current administration).
You can connect with Brett on LinkedIn here.
Listen to this episode on:
* YouTube
* Spotify
Expect to learn:
* Why battery storage is essential for a renewable grid once you cross 60 to 70 percent clean generation.
* How battery storage can be a non-wired alternative to expensive grid upgrades
Quotes from the episode:
“Storage is the enabler for a high-renewables grid. Once you get to around 60 to 70 percent renewables, you basically need long-duration storage for the grid to function efficiently.”- Brett Simon
“Our system is completely lithium-free. Everything in the battery is made from commodity materials, so we are not exposed to the same extreme commodity risk that lithium-based chemistries face.”- Brett Simon
Transcript:
Aaron Nichols:Hello, everyone, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to This Week in Solar. As always, I’m your host Aaron Nichols, the Research and Policy Specialist here at Exact Solar in Newtown, Pennsylvania.And today, I think we’re going to be talking more about batteries, which is an area I know shamefully little about—and I’m excited to learn a lot more.So our guest today, Brett Simon—would you tell us a bit about EZinc and your role there?
Brett Simon:Sure. Hi, everybody. I’m Brett Simon, Director of Commercial Strategy at EZinc. EZinc is a long-duration battery storage manufacturer based out of the Toronto area of Canada—though I personally work out of our U.S. arm in northern New Jersey.Our solution is a zinc-based hybrid flow battery that can discharge anywhere from 10 to 100 hours. Traditional flow batteries have two tanks that pump solution between them; ours is a single sealed tank. If you were to look at it, it would resemble a fish tank with a potassium hydroxide electrolyte. It uses zinc chemistry to charge and discharge energy, giving advantages like long lifetime, low degradation, inherent safety, and, of course, the long duration I mentioned earlier.It’s made entirely of commodity materials, so we aren’t subject to the extreme commodity risks affecting other technologies that rely on rare earth elements or materials refined in foreign nations.
Aaron Nichols:So does that mean lithium is not involved in the chemistry at all?
Brett Simon:We don’t use any lithium. Our solution is completely lithium-free.
Aaron Nichols:That’s amazing—you’re much less dependent on supply chain disruptions.
Brett Simon:Definitely. I was just at a conference in Austin, Texas, where there was a lot of discussion about supply chain and the drive toward domestic manufacturing for the storage industry, especially with new federal rules around foreign entities of concern. There’s going to be a big push toward domestically manufactured content.
Aaron Nichols:So what are some of the major differences in degradation between zinc and lithium?
Brett Simon:Good question. Lithium systems have improved a lot over time, but typically, depending on how much you cycle them, you’ll get between a 7- and 13-year lifetime. Our battery targets a minimum 15-year lifetime. That’s a major difference.Our system also has a different discharge profile. Lithium systems—because they’re shorter duration—are usually cycled almost daily. Ours, being long-duration, often does partial cycles each day.
Aaron Nichols:Do you have a similar depth of discharge?
Brett Simon:Ours is superior—0 to 100 percent. Lithium generally doesn’t go below 5 percent or above 95 percent. But customers don’t really see that difference. The rated capacity they buy is what they get.
Aaron Nichols:On EZinc’s website, it says your mission is to enable a safe and cost-effective transition away from fossil fuels to renewables. For listeners who might not know—why is energy storage so important for renewables?
Brett Simon:Storage is the key enabler of a renewable grid. A study from about four years ago found that once a grid hits 60–70% renewables, you need 8+ hours of duration storage to function efficiently because of generation variability.Some grids are already approaching that level. Hawaii, for example, was facing solar backfeed issues as early as 2015, even requiring battery storage or smaller systems to limit exports.
Aaron Nichols:They also eliminated net metering, didn’t they?
Brett Simon:Exactly. So if we want to scale renewables, we need storage—and increasingly, long-duration storage. Ten years ago, a 1 MWh project was exciting. Now, 100 MWh deployments barely make the news.
Aaron Nichols:At a basic level, renewables don’t produce power all the time, so we need to store it for when it’s needed most.
Brett Simon:Exactly. And beyond that, storage improves the transmission and distribution grid. It can defer or replace costly infrastructure upgrades—substations, poles, and wires—saving utilities time and money.
Aaron Nichols:That’s huge. Utilities in our region raise prices every year because they can’t keep up with upgrades.
Brett Simon:Yeah, and you’re in PJM territory—same as us in New Jersey. Energy prices and grid constraints are major political topics here, especially during elections.
Aaron Nichols:We even have governors threatening to leave PJM! It’s wild. Anyway—what are the major challenges facing storage deployment right now?
Brett Simon:Three main ones:First, supply chain. The global battery market is still dominated by China—something like 80–90% of lithium refining happens there. With FEOC (Foreign Entities of Concern) rules kicking in around 2026, there’s urgency to build a domestic supply chain.
Second, market design. PJM and other regional operators weren’t built for storage. FERC Order 841 forced markets to compensate storage, but mainly short-duration. We need a similar order for long-duration systems. Right now, if you bid a 24-hour resource, you’re only paid as if it’s a 4-hour one.
Third, interconnection and permitting. The process is painfully slow—averaging seven years in PJM from queue to approval. Batteries and solar can be built in a year or less, but permitting delays everything.
Aaron Nichols:And permitting isn’t standardized—every jurisdiction does it differently.
Brett Simon:Exactly. Even stormwater rules vary wildly and can add months if developers don’t plan for them.
Aaron Nichols:You mentioned before recording that you have a soapbox about AI and energy. Let’s hear it.
Brett Simon:I’m an AI skeptic—not that it’s bad, but it’s overhyped. It’s great for optimizing battery charge/discharge and identifying faults, but most companies claiming to use AI can’t explain what it actually does. I’ll ask at conferences, “What does that mean?” and often get blank stares.
Aaron Nichols:Yeah, that happens across industries. Everyone says “we use AI,” but no one can show where.
Brett Simon:Exactly. It’s become a buzzword. I even tried Spotify’s AI DJ once—it said, “You were listening to Blink-182, so here’s Taylor Swift.” That’s not intelligence. I just want companies to be transparent—say what AI actually does and why it’s needed.
Aaron Nichols:That’s a great point. Reporters tell me they’re drowning in AI-generated responses. Sometimes not using it is an advantage.
Brett Simon:Totally. It comes down to authenticity. If your AI truly optimizes performance—great. But if you can’t explain it, it’s a red flag.
Aaron Nichols:I’ve called myself a “nerd whisperer” since joining this industry. There’s often a gap between engineers and communicators—people saying “it’s AI, it just works,” when they don’t understand it themselves.
Brett Simon:Exactly. I don’t expect a marketing rep to recite algorithms—but they should be able to clearly explain what it does and why it matters. I once met someone who did just that—gave a full, 20-minute breakdown of how their AI worked. I wish more would follow that example.
Aaron Nichols:Alright, to wrap up, I ask everyone the same final question. My grandma just turned 80, and she was born into a world where renewables didn’t exist. What do you think clean energy looks like 80 years from now?
Brett Simon:Eighty years from now—so, 2105—I’m going to dream big. I think humanity will at least start building a Dyson Sphere: solar panels orbiting the sun, capturing massive energy directly from our star. It sounds crazy, but a hundred years ago, no one could imagine video calls or smartphones. Why not?
Aaron Nichols:That’s what would make interstellar travel possible, right? Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about how civilizations evolve through energy levels—and a Dyson Sphere would get us to the next one.
Brett Simon:Exactly. Even in my lifetime, the pace of progress has been wild. Maybe by then we’ll have near-infinite storage—or at least affordable, practical long-duration storage everywhere.
Aaron Nichols:That’s a great vision. Brett, thank you so much for coming on today. If people want to find you, where can they connect?
Brett Simon:LinkedIn is best. I post regularly and attend plenty of clean energy conferences, especially around New York City. So if you see me at one, say hi!
Aaron Nichols:Awesome. Thanks again, Brett. And for everyone listening—that’s been This Week in Solar. We’ll talk to you next week.
Brett Simon:Thanks for having me on, Aaron. I really enjoyed it.
