Offgrid Energy Labs Partners with Keele University to Deploy India-Developed ZincGel Energy Storage Technology in UK

Bengaluru, September 24, 2026: India-origin deep-tech energy storage company Offgrid Energy Labs has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Keele University in the United Kingdom to deploy its patented ZincGel® long-duration energy storage technology on the university’s campus.

The pilot will use ZincGel batteries manufactured at Offgrid Energy Labs’ recently established facility in Hook, Hampshire, and will be deployed at Keele University’s Low Carbon Energy Generation Park.

The project brings together technology developed in India, UK-based battery manufacturing and academic research to demonstrate the use of non-lithium long-duration energy storage in a live renewable-energy environment.

According to the company, the initiative will also be the UK’s first zinc-based long-duration energy storage project using a battery manufactured entirely in the UK.

Pilot to Store Surplus Renewable Energy

Under the agreement, Offgrid Energy Labs and Keele University plan to deploy a pilot ZincGel battery system in a fully islanded configuration.

The system will assess whether the technology can capture and store around 1 MWh of surplus renewable energy every month. The pilot will also evaluate key parameters such as safety, depth of discharge and round-trip performance under real-world operating conditions.

Researchers will further study how the system performs during seasonal variations in renewable generation and examine how ZincGel technology could help reduce renewable-energy curtailment.

The results are expected to provide technical evidence for a potential larger multi-MWh deployment at Keele University, designed to absorb excess renewable generation across the campus.

Addressing Renewable Energy Curtailment

The partnership comes as the UK faces increasing challenges in managing surplus renewable electricity.

The press release states that the UK Government paid £1.46 billion to curtail around 10 TWh of surplus wind generation in 2025, with curtailment costs forecast by industry sources to rise significantly without sufficient long-duration energy storage capacity.

Keele University’s Low Carbon Energy Generation Park includes two wind turbines and can supply up to 50% of the university campus’ electricity, making it a suitable site to test technologies designed to capture excess renewable generation.

ZincGel Designed for 6-to-16-Hour Energy Storage

ZincGel was developed by Offgrid Energy Labs in India and is based on proprietary zinc-bromine chemistry designed specifically for stationary long-duration energy storage.

The battery technology is designed to provide a 6-to-16-hour discharge window, allowing renewable energy generated during periods of excess supply to be stored and used later when demand increases.

Unlike many conventional battery systems, ZincGel uses zinc and bromine instead of lithium, cobalt, nickel or rare-earth materials.

Offgrid Energy Labs says the technology is designed to be non-flammable and suitable for applications requiring deep discharge, safety and long-duration performance.

Potential applications include renewable-energy integration, industrial energy resilience, microgrids and grid-scale storage.

India-Origin Technology Targets Global Markets

Tejas Kusurkar, Co-Founder of Offgrid Energy Labs, said the partnership represents an important step in taking India-developed deep-tech technologies into international markets.

He said the project combines Indian technology, UK manufacturing and a real-world renewable-energy environment to demonstrate how ZincGel can address the growing requirement for safe and long-duration energy storage.

Kusurkar added that technologies built using abundant materials could play an increasingly important role as India and other markets expand renewable-energy capacity and look to build more resilient energy systems.

Baroness Luciana Berger, Chair of the Energy Storage Association, said the collaboration could help reduce dependence on imported battery technologies while supporting efforts to lower renewable-energy curtailment at Keele University.

Meanwhile, Prof Raphael Hirschi, Director of the Digital Society Institute, said the initial project will validate zinc-bromine batteries as an alternative to lithium-based storage for energy requirements on approximately one-day timescales.

He added that the longer-term research could explore energy-storage requirements ranging from a day to as much as a full year.

Offgrid Energy Labs Expands Battery Innovation

Offgrid Energy Labs develops intellectual-property-driven battery technologies centred around its ZincGel zinc-bromine platform.

The company is registered in India, the UK and the United States and has filed more than 60 patents across the UK, European Union, India and the US, according to the press release.

The company is backed by investors including Shell Ventures, Ankur Capital and Archean Chemical Industries and is developing its technology for global energy-storage markets.

The Keele University deployment represents another step towards commercialising India-developed long-duration battery technology internationally, while testing the role zinc-based storage could play in integrating larger volumes of renewable energy into electricity systems.