Lincoln Electric adds zinc battery to Nebraska microgrid
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- Lincoln Electric System is adding a 3-MW/12-MWh zinc-based battery from Eos Energy Enterprises to its 30-MW downtown Lincoln microgrid, boosting capacity by about 10% and marking LES's first grid-scale storage project.
- Scott Benson, LES director of strategy and innovation, said the installation is in final commissioning and set for commercial operations in the coming weeks.
- Eos Energy Enterprises won the contract with the lowest per-unit cost over the contract span; Benson called the zinc battery "essentially non-flammable," making it suitable for the dense urban substation site.
- The downtown Lincoln microgrid serves the state Capitol complex, a federal building, city offices, and two public safety facilities, and already pairs a dual-fuel natural gas turbine with 300 kW of customer-owned solar and 500 kW of customer-owned thermal storage.
- At the time of selection, the LES contract was Eos's largest battery under contract — the Pittsburgh-based company has since secured larger projects including a 36-MW/216-MWh system for Springfield, Missouri and a 100-MW/400-MWh project in ERCOT.
- Benson said LES has no immediate plans for more batteries — the system peaks around 800 MW — but storage would be evaluated in any future resource plan.
Why it matters: For Eos Energy, the Lincoln project is a high-profile reference deployment in a dense urban environment — a credibility boost for a zinc chemistry still trying to scale against lithium-ion. For LES, the 10% capacity boost to a critical-infrastructure microgrid marks the utility's first grid-scale storage asset, though Benson signaled no immediate fleet expansion.
![ELM MicroGrid installs battery storage in its hometown [video]](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/06/ELM_PEORIA.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
