Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. provided an update as to the progression of their technology. In 2023, two additional US patents were granted bringing the Company's total portfolio to 16 international patents which cover major markets in North America, Asia, and Europe, and 5 additional patents under review. These patents protect the Company's interests by ensuring that they can control commercial use and success of the technology.

Technical Development: Zinc8's technical development team has worked towards the next-generation fuel cell stack that is expected to outperform the company's previous design iteration completed for a North American cloud provider. The improvements target higher reliability and higher power performance resulting from higher fuel utilization and more efficient electrochemical process that are designed to meet New York Power Authority's ("NYPA") specifications and requirements. Zinc8 has improved its in-house rapid prototyping and testing capabilities to meet NYPA's timeline.

These activities are expected to validate several proprietary methods for controlling and monitoring stack performance that can lead to multiple IP opportunities. Multiple breakthrough discoveries have allowed engineers to incorporate additional cells in a single stack without compromising the performance or fluid distribution. Additional cells allow for scaling, lowering the cost and the opportunity to produce a product or Energy Storage System "ESS" by increasing the charging power per system installation.

A new seal has been incorporated into the new stack design to achieve higher reliability. Research & Development: Zinc8 has expanded its R&D team while increasing its small-scale testing capabilities by introducing various innovative characterization tools and methods. This significantly reduces the testing cycle time and minimizes Zinc8's expenses and resources, which otherwise would have been required for large-scale characterization testing.

The team has discovered additives for the electrolyte to increase the charging operation's reliability and reduce its maintenance frequency and cost. The team has refined the understanding of charge and discharge operations and has identified critical parameters towards reaching the target goal of 20,000 hours of run time (at rated power capacity) per stack replacement. Cathode Production: The team has tested and identified alternative raw materials for use in the cathodes in an effort to increase the resilience against supply chain disruptions.

The production process has been refined under trade-secret to make advancements in production scaling and quality control. The production team has produced 60+ kW's of cathode material to support development activities for 2023. Zinc8 has installed new cathode pilot-plant production equipment for advancing to a MW-production facility in Vancouver BC.

It has been commissioned and initial procedures have been developed for production scaling. Using the new cathode pilot plant production equipment, the team has been able to produce a 10-meter-long, continuous sheet of electrode that can be implemented in roll-to-roll manufacturing for MW production. Project Update: The team has completed the enabling work for the NYPA project which will allow the company to further its installation goals.

The team has completed deliverables for contractors to bid for the site prep work. This includes manuals, site drawings, internal layout of components, and circuit designs. Zinc8 has assessed the suitability of a facility in Kingston, New York, for product manufacturing.

The evaluation involved scrutinizing several aspects of the building, including its layout; accessibility to gas, electric and water services; construction quality; and loading docks, among others. Collaborating with NY contractors to identify and define the company's specific requirements for the production plant, such as layout and potential throughput and needed space for each subassembly station. As Zinc8 works towards transitioning into the next phase, company refocusing on internal roles and responsibilities to better align with the scaleup of the organization and incorporate prospective clients/customer's requirements and specifications into the technology to ensure that their energy storage system is able to integrate more renewable energy as well as meeting net carbon zero goals.