Sharp Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ESI Asia Pacific Pty Ltd (Head office: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Executive chairman Peter Brindley; hereinafter "ESI") to collaborate on the development of zinc-air flow batteries. The State of Queensland cooperated on Sharp's MOU signing with ESI.

Since 2022, Sharp has been developing zinc-air flow batteries with the support of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment's "Technology Development and Demonstration Project for Regional Symbiosis and Cross-Sectoral Carbon Neutrality" Project. This battery technology uses abundant, inexpensive zinc as the energy storage material. For their low cost, high capacity, and extremely low risks of bursting into flames, zinc-air flow batteries hold promise for use as a safe means for the large-scale storage of renewable energy.

ESI develops, manufactures, and sells grid-scale (*1) iron flow batteries in Australia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region. The company is currently moving to commercialize iron flow batteries in Australia, targeting an annual production capacity of 200 MW by 2026. The iron flow battery is a type of redox flow battery (*2), a low-cost, high-capacity energy storage technology which utilizes iron as the energy storage material. It shares technological points with zinc-air flow batteries, such as the method of charging and discharging by circulating the electrolyte.

Through collaboration with ESI, Sharp intends to strengthen R&D for zinc-air flow batteries by integrating both companies' flow battery technologies. Furthermore, Sharp plans to collaborate with ESI across the entire supply chain, including production, and strengthening ties with industry and academia in Japan and Australia for accelerating the creation of zinc-air flow battery business opportunities and contribute to the establishment of a carbon-neutral society.