Form Energy’s Long-Duration Iron-Air Battery System: Planned Deployments and Manufacturing Expansion

 

     Long-duration energy storage is still one of the missing links for developing reliable clean electricity grid systems. Form Energy believes they have a solution with their iron-air battery system that can provide over 100 hours of energy storage. This would be ideal for long power outages and, more frequently, to store energy in the winter when solar output is lower and has a shorter daily generation period. It can also help where wind output varies by season. The company believes it can provide long-duration energy storage at a price comparable to alternatives, including thermal power plants. Of course, that remains to be seen.

 

     Long-duration energy storage is a different application than the common short-duration energy storage usually provided by utility-scale Li-ion batteries, which can provide energy for up to 4 or 5 hours at a time. Thus, Form’s iron-air battery can provide 25 times the storage time as LI-ion batteries. It can also be complementary to Li-ion batteries in grid applications.

 

     Form Energy’s battery uses powdered iron, water, and air to exchange energy. All of those components are readily available and inexpensive. There is less reliance on mining and processing for the materials as there is with Li-ion and other battery chemistries. Iron is the most mined metal and one of the most available and least expensive metals.

     The process for Form’s battery is known as ‘reverse rusting.’ Actually. That is the process for charging the battery. The iron is oxidized, or rusted, during the discharging part of the cycle and reduced, or reverse rusted, during the charging part of cycle.

 

     Iron-air batteries have been researched since the 1970s. Form began working on theirs in 2017. They didn’t have to prove the technology but to prove that they can control the reactions in such a way that they can be adequately repeatable and reliable, or as they say it: “we have reinvented and optimized the iron-air battery for the electric grid,” or as Form told Canary Media in 2021: “What we’re doing is optimizing a technology that had never been commercialized before.” An article in Fast Company describes the battery cycle in a bit more detail:

 

“The finished product is a 40-foot shipping container filled with groups of battery cells. Inside the cells, a plate of iron is submerged in water with dissolved salts. When the battery discharges, it pulls in oxygen and the iron starts to rust over the course of 100 hours. When it charges, the oxygen is removed from the iron so it goes back to unrusted metal. The basic materials are cheap. There’s another advantage: unlike lithium-ion batteries, these batteries don’t risk catching on fire.”

 

     Form Energy’s website describes the deployment configurations

 

“Each individual battery module is about the size of a side-by-side washer/dryer set and contains a stack of approximately 50 one meter-tall cells.”

 

“These battery modules are grouped together in environmentally protected enclosures. Hundreds of these enclosures are grouped together in modular megawatt-scale power blocks. Depending on the system size, tens to hundreds of these power blocks will be connected to the electricity grid. For scale, in its least dense configuration, a one megawatt system comprises half an acre of land. Higher density configurations would achieve >3 MW/acre.”

 

     These statements confirm two issues related to cost: Land use is considerable. At 3MW/acre, it is about one-third of utility-scale solar which is conservatively estimated at 10MW/acre. That is still a substantial land footprint. In addition to the land footprint, the materials footprint is also quite substantial. The sheer size of deployments means vast amounts of materials to build the cells and enclosure. Both of these factors raise costs significantly.

 

     Form Energy was a start-up funded in-part by Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures. In 2020 the company acquired the zinc-air battery patents of defunct company Fluidic Energy. Those zinc-air batteries were deployed often in remote solar microgrids. Form used the zinc-air tech to develop a better iron-air tech, calling iron the “world’s best air cathode.” The iron that Form’s battery uses can be easily supplied by the steel industry. This is one reason why partnering with the steel industry has been a good idea. In 2021 ArcelorMittal, one of the world’s leading iron ore producers, is an early investor. ArcelorMittal will also be a supplier of iron materials developed jointly with Form for use in the batteries.

 

     The company announced in October 2024 that it obtained $405 million in financing to expand its manufacturing facility in Weirton, WV. This will expand the size of the existing 550,000-square-foot facility by 300,000 square feet. Construction began in May 2023 for the original facility and was completed a year later, considered to be a fast timeline. The company announced a collaboration with GE Vernova for manufacturing and engineering expertise. GE Vernova will provide guidance on manufacturing, supply chain operations, financing, and sourcing.  By 2028, they expect to have a 1 million square foot facility employing 750 people with an annual production capacity of 500MW/50GWh. That is not as many as the 13,000 that were employed at Weirton Steel at its peak, but it is a positive development for the area. I grew up in a steel mill town just a few miles down the Ohio River from here. The facility is built on the 55-acre site of the former Weirton Steel Works. Some of the works’ buildings will be retained for cultural and historical purposes and some will be utilized by Form. It hopes to have the expansion fully constructed and operational by the end of 2025. The facility began trial production earlier this year and expects to begin commercial production before the end of 2024.

 

     Form has announced about 14GWh of projects to date. They broke ground on their first pilot deployment, a 1.5 MW/150 MWh project developed in partnership with Minnesota utility Great River Energy. It is expected to begin operations by the end of 2025.

 

     Utility Dive summarizes form Energy’s current projects, sizes, and timelines:

 

• A memorandum of understanding with Puget Sound Energy to explore a potential 10-MW/1-GWh deployment in its service territory as soon as the end of 2026;
• A 5-MW/500-MWh project, funded in part by a $30 million grant from the California Energy Commission, at a Pacific Gas & Electric site in northern California;
• A 10 MW/1-GWh demonstration project in New York, funded in part by a $12 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority;
• A self-developed deployment of 85 MW/8.5 GWh in rural Maine, funded in part by a $147 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy; and
• A partnership with Xcel Energy’s Minnesota subsidiary for a 10 MW/1-GWh deployment paired with up to 710 MW of solar.

     Form announced in 2021 that they think they can build their systems at $20/kWh, which would be very competitive with power plants. I am not sure if they are still using this estimate. If they could do it, it would be great, but I must admit I am skeptical. The company developed a grid modeling toolkit for grid planners that seeks to incorporate long-duration storage. The software is called Formware and aims to optimize the value of long-duration storage on more decarbonized grids. This optimization involves integrating long-term storage with generation and short-term storage. I wonder if this could also be used with pumped hydro, which currently makes up something like 98% of deployed long-duration storage.  

 

“Form’s internal analytics predict that over the next decade, achieving Form’s cost and performance targets will unlock tens of gigawatts of demand for multi-day storage in the U.S. and accelerate the country’s trajectory towards a more reliable and resilient, clean electric grid. At such levels of deployment, Form’s technology will catalyze billions of dollars in savings to American electricity consumers.”

 

 

 

References:

 

Iron-air battery developer Form Energy raises $405M, announces collaboration with GE Vernova. Brian Martucci. Utility Dive. October 22, 2024. Iron-air battery developer Form Energy raises $405M, announces collaboration with GE Vernova | Utility Dive

Form Energy Begins Expansion of Form Factory 1 to Increase Manufacturing Capacity. Form Energy. October 14, 2024. Form Energy Begins Expansion of Form Factory 1 to Increase Manufacturing Capacity | Form Energy

Form Energy Secures $405M in Series F Financing to Expand Iron-Air Battery Business and Operations. Form Energy. October 9, 2024. Form Energy Secures $405M in Series F Financing to Expand Iron-Air Battery Business and Operations | Form Energy

Form Energy’s $20/kWh, 100-hour iron-air battery could be a ‘substantial breakthrough’. July 26, 2021. Jason Plautz. Utility Dive. July 26, 2021. Form Energy's $20/kWh, 100-hour iron-air battery could be a 'substantial breakthrough' | Utility Dive

Stealthy storage contender Form Energy reveals secret formula: Iron and air. Julian Spector. Canary Media. July 23, 2021. Stealthy storage contender Form Energy reveals secret… | Canary Media

Battery Technology: Multi-day storage, the pathway to a clean, reliable and secure grid. Form Energy. Battery Technology | Form Energy

Grids Modeling Toolkit: Pioneering new grid modeling tools for a clean energy future. Form Energy. Grid Modeling Toolkit | Form Energy

In West Virginia, a former steel mill is now home to a cutting-edge battery plant. Adele Peters. Fast Company. October 25, 2024. Aa former West Virginia steel mill is now home to a cutting-edge battery plant - Fast Company

Form Energy’s Utility-Sized Battery Can Run for Four Days. Bloomberg. October 22, 2024. Form Energy’s Utility-Sized Battery Can Run for Four Days - Bloomberg

The True Land Footprint of Solar Energy. Great Plains Institute. September 14, 2021. The True Land Footprint of Solar Energy - Great Plains Institute (betterenergy.org)