08.12.22
Senator Personally Called Zinc8 CEO To Pitch Ulster County As The Site For Their Investment, And As Cleanup Begins, Schumer Announces The Battery Manufacturer Has Signed The Letter Of Intent To Make Ulster’s Ipark87, Former Techcity Campus, The Future Home Of New Hub
Schumer-Delivered Clean Energy Investments From The Inflation Reduction Act And The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Were Meant To Ensure Companies Like Zinc8 Would Bring Domestic Manufacturing Of Critical Clean Technologies Back Home, While Also Powering The Fight Against Climate Change; And Less Than A Week After The Inflation Reduction Act Passes The Senate We Are Already Seeing Results
Schumer: Zinc8 Is Ready To Supercharge the Hudson Valley Economy With New Jobs, A Jolt Of Economic Energy, And Power The Fight Against Climate Change!
On the heels of passing the largest investment ever in clean energy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced, that following his direct appeal, Zinc8, a leader in cutting-edge battery and energy storage technology has officially signed a letter of intent to make Ulster County’s former TechCity campus, now known as iPark87, the home of its first major manufacturing hub as the company looks towards commercialization. The senator has worked non-stop to expand federal investment for American manufacturing, including for critical clean energy products like batteries, and on top of his personally advocacy, the federal clean technology manufacturing incentives he passed into law in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Law as well as further incentives included in the Senate-passed Inflation Reduction Act were a key factor in Zinc8 announcing its intention to come to Ulster County. Schumer explained that with Zinc8 as one of iPark87’s anchor tenants, the Hudson Valley could see up to 500 new, good-paying clean energy jobs, the perfect start to a new chapter as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and iPark87 officially kickoff their cleanup efforts of the pollution-ridden site, transforming the campus and creating a national success story for a cleaner environmental future.
“Zinc8 is the jolt of electricity the Hudson Valley needs, and is proof positive that when you invest in fighting climate change you are investing in creating good-paying jobs, new economic growth, and a brighter future for our communities. As the EPA officially begins cleanup of this once-contaminated asbestos dumping ground, I can think of no better way to usher in a renaissance for Ulster County than by making this the foundation for supercharging the fight against climate change with an investment in clean tech manufacturing,” said Senator Schumer. “When I passed the Inflation Reduction Act less than a week ago, and championed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to passage last year, the Hudson Valley and economy-boosting investments like this were at the forefront of my mind. I applaud Zinc8 for their commitment to Ulster County, and look forward to continuing to work hand-in-hand to power New York’s leadership as a global battery manufacturing hub.”
“Last July, Senator Schumer came to Ulster County and promised to work tirelessly to revitalize our former IBM campus, returning it to its rightful place as the beating heart of our reenergized and revamped Ulster County economy,” County Executive Pat Ryan said. “Today, as we officially kick off the removal of the asbestos at the site, promises made are promises kept. With the Inflation Reduction Act’s historic federal investments in climate and the clean energy economy supercharging our efforts, I’m thrilled that Zinc8 has signed a letter of intent to come to iPark87 and create 500 new clean energy jobs. Our work at TechCity will not only continue to attract new business and create thousands of new jobs, but it will also serve as a national model for restoring industrial sites to create the brighter, greener future our planet’s future generations deserve.”
“The Town of Ulster, after a long arduous battle, is pleased to see the commencement of the cleanup of the demolition debris piles as the first major step in the redevelopment of the former IBM Facility now known as iPark87. I want to thank Senator Schumer for his tremendous advocacy to clean up and revitalize the site to create jobs and attract new businesses to our Town. This victory came through cooperative efforts of the USEPA, NYSDOL, NYSDEC, Ulster County, and the Town. I am very appreciative and pleased by the efforts put forth by all Agencies getting to this first step of redevelopment,” said Town of Ulster Supervisor James E. Quigley.
Schumer personally called the CEO of Zinc8, Ron MacDonald, to urge them to expand their operations in Ulster, and the company said the support of the senator heavily influenced the decision of where to locate their first major production facility. In addition, Schumer has worked relentlessly to increase federal incentives to bring manufacturing back from overseas, including in tech and clean energy industries. Critically, this week Schumer shepherded the Inflation Reduction Act to passage in the Senate, the largest climate package to every pass the chamber at $369 billion, and fought to include targeted incentives to help clean battery companies like Zinc8 reach commercialization by expanding their manufacturing operations in the United States.
Specifically, the Inflation Reduction Act includes a new clean manufacturing tax credit, the 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, that will greatly benefit companies like Zinc8. This production tax credit will provide an incentive to battery component manufacturers and critical mineral processors – the materials that go into batteries and many other clean energy technologies – to produce more of these components and refine more of these minerals here at home. The incentives are targeted to each component of the battery, and scale as the battery grows larger in capacity to receive a credit for making key parts of the battery. For example, every battery cell will receive a $35 credit that scales with the capacity of the battery. The credit runs at full value through 2029, and then begins to scale down in 2030 until it is phase out completely starting in 2032. The credit also incentivizes the domestic production of solar panels, wind turbines, and inverters – the technology needed to use these renewable technologies in our power grid. In addition to this new clean manufacturing tax credit, the Inflation Reduction Act includes $10 billion for a revamped version of the Advanced Energy Project Credit, which helps cover the upfront cost of retrofitting an existing facility to create eligible clean technologies – including batteries and critical minerals – or to build new facilities for the same purpose. Beyond direct manufacturing incentives, the Inflation Reduction Act invests in bringing down the cost of renewable electricity resources like wind and solar, which batteries, like the ones Zinc8 is committing to manufacturer in New York, are paired with to balance out any intermittency and provide consistent clean power to households and businesses.
This potential federal boost is on top of the investments already made in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which included $6 billion for federal incentives to expand capabilities of U.S.-based battery research and development, bolster domestic battery production, and shore up the American supply chain for batteries and energy storage technology that is often reliant on foreign sources.
This game-changing announcement for the region comes as simultaneously the EPA begins to officially clean up the former TechCity campus, a clean-up effort that Senator Schumer has fought to jumpstart for years to create a new future for the site for the kind of investment like Zinc8’s. In July of 2021, Schumer personally visited the asbestos-contaminated TechCity site, calling on the EPA to fully clean up and restore Ulster County’s former economic engine, once the 30-year home of IBM. Following his visit, Natural Resources bought the property from the former owner. Earlier this summer, after Schumer’s advocacy, the firm reached an agreement with EPA to remove the asbestos piles, which now has finally begun.
Schumer explained that Zinc8 specializes in flow battery technology that relies on regenerating zinc particles to store and dispatch energy, and now with this letter of intent plans to bring their next generation technology to commercialization. Zinc8 and its innovative zinc-air energy-storage technology have strong ties to New York. The company won the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Innovation Challenge and has collaborated with NYPA, the nation’s largest state utility, to build a 100-kilowatt, 1-megawatt-hour pilot project in Western New York. Additionally, Zinc8 signed a second agreement in 2020 to install a 100-kW, 1.5-MWh zinc-air energy storage system demonstration project in Brooklyn.
Schumer has long been a champion for bolstering the battery research and manufacturing industry across New York. Last December, following his direct advocacy Schumer secured Binghamton University’s New Energy NY Proposal’s spot as a finalist in the EDA Regional Challenge for tens of millions in federal investment to create a battery research and manufacturing hub in the Southern Tier and broader Upstate New York region. Schumer, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger, and Dr. Stan Whittingham, the 2019 winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work on the development of lithium ion batteries, recently penned a joint op-ed on the importance of bolstering battery technology for America’s future.
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