Iron-air battery plant to meet 100 hours of energy storage needs starts construction in the U.S.
According to the Renewable Energy World website, US-based Form Energy is an ambitious startup founded in 2017 to make iron air batteries capable of providing days of clean power storage needs.
The company is tackling a problem that is not yet prominent, but will become more apparent as intermittent renewable energy sources replace more fossil-fueled power sources on the grid. As solar and wind output fluctuates, lithium-ion batteries can fill in some of the gaps, but can only store energy for a few minutes or hours.Form Energy's founders believe that a grid-scale solution for several days of energy storage is critical for deep decarbonization of the energy system.
The company has raised nearly $1 billion with its 100-hour storage solution, including support from the likes of Bill Gates.Form Energy claims that its iron-air batteries can compete with other energy storage systems at costs as low as 1/10th of the cost of lithium-ion.
But, as with many emerging technologies, it's a matter of time before we see how well iron air batteries are likely to perform in real-world scenarios. But six years after its launch, Form Energy says it is now ready to prove the benefits of its technology when it counts. The company has signed agreements with utilities such as Xcel Energy, Southern Company and Great River Energy to deploy iron air batteries, and recently broke ground on a commercial-scale iron air battery in West Virginia.
In fact, Form Energy did not invent iron air battery chemistry, a technology principle that dates back more than half a century. The U.S. Department of Energy commissioned a Westinghouse study in the 1970s to explore iron air battery applications for transportation, but those applications ultimately didn't get off the ground.
