Form Energy

Form Energy is an American energy storage company focused on developing a new class of cost-effective, multi-day energy storage systems that will enable a reliable and fully-renewable electric grid year-round. Form Energy's first commercial product is a rechargeable iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with legacy power plants. [1]

History

Form Energy was founded in 2017 by Mateo Jaramillo, former head of battery development for Tesla, MIT professor and battery scientist Yet-Ming Chiang, Ted Wiley, William Woodford and Marco Ferrara. [2]

In December 2022, the company announced its first manufacturing plant site: 55-acres in Weirton, West Virginia. The US$760 million project was expected to employ ~750 workers and to begin initial shipments in 2024.[3]

In January 2023, the eight-state utility Xcel Energy contracted for two systems, at Pueblo, Colorado, and at Becker, Minnesota. Each project is to provide 10 megawatts of instantaneous power for up to 100 hours, and store 1 gigawatt-hour.[4]

Technology

The active components of Form Energy's iron-air battery system are iron, water, and air. The basic principle of operation is reversible rusting. While discharging, the battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. While charging, the application of an electrical current converts the rust back to iron and the battery breathes out oxygen.

Each individual battery is about the size of a washing machine. Each of these modules is filled with a water-based, non-flammable electrolyte, similar to the electrolyte used in AA batteries. Inside of the liquid electrolyte are stacks of between 10 and 20 meter-scale cells, which include iron electrodes and air electrodes, the parts of the battery that enable the electrochemical reactions to store and discharge electricity.

The battery modules are grouped together in modular megawatt-scale power blocks, which comprise thousands of battery modules in an environmentally protected enclosure. Depending on the system size, tens to hundreds of these power blocks will be connected to the electricity grid. In its least dense configuration, a one megawatt system requires about an acre of land. Higher density configurations can achieve greater than three megawatts per acre.

The company claims that its batteries are capable of storing energy at less than 1/10th the cost of lithium-ion battery technology and can deliver the 100+ hour duration required to make wind power, hydropower, and solar energy reliable year round.

Finance

Investors include Breakthrough Energy Ventures, itself funded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Coatue Management, TPG (through TPG Rise Climate), steel maker ArcelorMittal, Perry Creek Capital, NGP Energy Technology Partners III, Temasek, Energy Impact Partners, Prelude Ventures, MIT’s investment fund The Engine, Capricorn Investment Group, Eni Next, and Macquarie Capital.

In August 2021, Form Energy announced the close of a $240 million Series D financing round led by ArcelorMittal’s XCarb™ innovation fund. In October 2022, they closed a $450 million series E round led by TPG Rise.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Form Energy: We are Transforming the Grid". Form Energy. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  2. Gold, Russell (2021-07-22). "Wall Street Journal | Startup Claims Breakthrough in Long-Duration Batteries". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  3. Blain, Loz (2023-01-09). "Form Energy's ultra-cheap iron-air batteries to get $760M factory". New Atlas. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
  4. "Xcel to install Form's long-duration batteries at retiring coal plants". Canary Media. January 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
  5. "Form Energy Announces $450M Series e Financing". 4 October 2022.
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