The most significant achievement is a significant reduction in normalized storage costs per kilowatt hour compared to lithium batteries. Form Enerji’s batteries are ten times cheaper in terms of storage costs and this is an important step in the search for efficient and cost-effective energy storage solutions.

Innovative renewable energy

Aware of the critical role energy storage plays in the development of green energy, Form Energy aims to create devices that can utilize solar or wind energy and distribute it to the grid during peak demand periods.

Although lithium batteries play an important role in some applications, they are not ideal for long-term energy storage. Unlike smartphones or electric cars, energy storage for large backup power systems does not require a large capacity per unit weight or volume. Instead, the focus is on affordability.

corrosion energy

Form Energy researched different battery options before deciding on iron-air batteries. The working principle of these batteries is relatively simple and is based on the corrosion process. During charging, batteries convert rust or iron oxide into metallic iron, releasing oxygen during the process. If you reverse this process, you can release the energy.

It is worth noting that iron air batteries have a slower response time compared to lithium batteries. Takes a full discharge cycle about 100 hours, i.e. a little over four days. While not suitable for EVs or smartphones, it is great for city backup power systems.

One of the main advantages of iron-air batteries is that their raw materials are plentiful and available. For their manufacture, direct reducing iron is used, which is the cheapest of the available forms of iron. In addition, other necessary components – air and water – are completely safe.

New Form Energy plant

In the first half of this year, Form Energy made headlines announcing that it will build a factory in West Virginia. The company has now announced plans for a 10 MW, 1 GWh prototype to be built on two acres of land in Minnesota, USA.

The iron-air battery project will be located on the property of Xcel Energy, an energy company that currently operates several coal-fired power plants. However, Xcel Energy has committed to converting half of its capacity to renewable energy sources.

Construction of the prototype is scheduled to begin in 2024, and the battery is expected to be launched in 2025. This project is an important step towards creating efficient and cost-effective solutions for energy storage in an environmentally clean future.