MGX Minerals
Announces
CSA
Attestation
of
Renewable
Energy
Mass Storage Components
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA -- May
29, 2019 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire -- MGX
Minerals Inc. ("MGX" or the
"Company") (CSE:
XMG /
OTCQB:
MGXMF /
FSE: 1MG)
announces
that its wholly
owned subsidiary
MGX Renewables Inc. ("MGXR")
has
received material
attestation from the
Canadian Standards Association ("CSA") related to the
use of system
components in
MGXR's
energy storage
systems.
The
approval follows a comprehensive evaluation completed by the CSA
that included oven
conditioning to 136°C, resistance to deterioration from fluids and
-40°C low temperature testing. Additionally,
the material
used for MGXR
stacks and
tanks successfully completed a
60-day
immersion test, 90-day
temperature test and flammability testing. Testing
by the CSA related to pump
housings is also nearing
completion.
MGXR
has
also
staffed
a member on the
Standards Technical Panel for UL 9540 and
UL 9540A
to contribute to development of energy storage safety
standards. MGXR is
also
contributing to the development of NFPA 855, Standard for the
installation of Energy Storage Systems and IEC energy storage
standards. Most competing
battery technologies have the risk of a thermal runaway and the new
safety standards account for this risk by placing constraints on
the installation. MGXR's technology has
been designed without the risk of thermal runaway and as a result
it is not subject to all
these
constraints.
MGXR Energy Storage System
The
MGXR ESS is a modular Energy Storage System designed to deliver
power in the range 20kW -
50MW and
energy
storage in the
range of 120kWh
-
1GWh over
extended periods of time. With the advantage of rechargeable
zinc-air flow
battery technology, the
system can be configured to support a wide range of discharge
power, recharge power and duty cycle requirements. Since the energy
storage capacity of the system is determined only by the size of
the zinc
storage tank, a very
cost-effective and
scalable
solution now exists as an alternative to the fixed
power/energy
ratio
of
the
lithium ion battery.
Li-ion versus Zinc-Air
The
fundamental limitation of Li-ion is
a fixed
power to
energy
ratio
severely
limiting flexibility and significantly
increasing cost
of energy
storage when
limited output power
is
required. This gives an overwhelming
advantage to MGXR's zinc-air flow
battery technology
in
high capacity, long duration commercial and industrial as well as
grid-scale
applications. In addition
to containing no expensive commodities such as lithium or cobalt,
the zinc-air
flow
battery has a
much lower cost of storage reflecting a paradigm shift essentially
eliminating the traditional fixed power / energy
ratio and
allowing for scalable power with highly flexible
energy
storage
capacity at
essentially any ratio, limited only by the physical parameters of
the fluidized zinc storage tank(s). The zinc-air
flow
battery has
completely decoupled power and energy
storage
subsystems with ratios of 1:5 up to 1:20 and conceptually 1:100,
giving significant advantage in any scenario requiring more than a
few hours of storage. This fills the need in both renewables
storage as well as industry and grid-scale
opportunities in power acquisition and distribution along with the
inherent benefits of clean steady power; with the potential to
acquire power not just overnight and discharge on demand during the
day but to take advantage of much larger swings in power demand and
supply such as weekly, monthly, and potentially seasonal
fluctuation. Recharging
is
also flexible and can be scaled to match supply markets and
timeframe of power availability whether long or short windows for
power acquisition. This creates large-scale
arbitrage and
cost savings opportunities
as
well as a
policy
level
opportunity to enhance localized power infrastructure without the
need to build new power plants or transmission lines.
Figure 1. MGXR modular Energy Storage System (ESS)
Technology
The
MGXR ESS is based upon unique patented
zinc-air
flow
battery technology.
Energy is
stored in the form of zinc particles, similar in size to grains of
sand. When the system is delivering power, the zinc particles are
combined with oxygen drawn from the surrounding air. When the
system is recharging,
zinc particles
are regenerated,
and
oxygen is returned to the surrounding air.
Applications
The
flexibility of the MGXR ESS enables it to service a wide range of
applications. Typical examples include:
-
Storage and
smoothing current from renewable energy sources such as wind and
solar
-
Commercial,
industrial backup replacing diesel generators
-
Industrial
scale,
on-demand
power for peak shaving or standby
-
Grid scale
energy storage for energy trading and arbitrage
Architecture
The
MGXR ESS is designed according to a modular architecture that
enables a wide variety of system configurations to be created from
a small number of common subsystems. Each subsystem implements a
single element of the technology:
-
The
Zinc Regeneration Subsystem (ZRS) provides the recharging
function
-
The
Fuel Storage Subsystem (FSS) provides the energy storage
function
-
The
Power Generation Subsystem (PGS) provides the discharging
function
About MGX Renewables
MGX
Renewables has developed a patented zinc-air flow battery that
efficiently stores energy in the form of zinc particles and
contains none of the traditional high cost battery commodities such
as lithium, vanadium or cobalt. The technology allows for low cost
mass storage of energy and can be deployed into a wide range of
scalable energy storage applications. The zinc-air
flow-battery is differentiated from other battery technologies by
its ability to decouple the relationship between energy (kWh) and
power (kW), by the very low cost of its zinc energy storage medium,
and by the inherent safety of its chemistry.
Unlike
conventional batteries such as lithium-ion, which have a fixed
energy/power ratio, the technology uses a fuel tank system that
offers flexible energy storage to power ratios and scalability. The
storage capacity is directly tied to the size of the fuel tank and
the quantity of recharged zinc fuel, making low cost scalability a
major advantage of the flow battery system. In addition, a further
major advantage of the zinc-air flow battery is the ability to
charge and discharge simultaneously and at different maximum charge
or discharge rates since each of the charge and
discharge circuits is separate and independent. Other types of
standard and flow batteries are limited to a maximum charge and
discharge by the total number of cells as there is no separation of
the charge, discharge and storage components. For more information
visit
www.mgxrenewables.com.
About MGX Minerals
MGX
Minerals is a diversified Canadian resource and
technology company with
interests in global
advanced
material,
energy,
and water assets. Learn
more at
www.mgxminerals.com.
Contact Information
Jared
Lazerson
President and
CEO
Telephone:
1.604.681.7735
Web:
www.mgxminerals.com
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the
Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking information or
forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking
information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such
as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate",
"potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by
their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions
investors that any forward-looking information provided by the
Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and
that actual results may differ materially from those in
forward-looking information as a result of various factors. The
reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more
complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential
effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on
SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.