Form Energy believes its multi-day energy storage technology will be a game-changer for the electric grid, catalyzing billions of dollars in savings for American consumers. Some investors with deep pockets want in on the action.
This week Form Energy announced a $405 million Series F financing round led by T. Rowe Price, joined by GE Vernova and a collection of existing backers. The company has raised more than $1.2 billion from investors and attracted hundreds of millions more from the feds.
“Form Energy’s multi-day energy storage solutions are positioned to be critical to ensuring an energy transition that is reliable and affordable. The company is at the forefront of driving decarbonisation in the power and commercial & industrial sectors. We’re thrilled to collaborate with the Form Energy team as they embark on their next chapter of breakthrough advancements and continued growth,” said Joseph Fath, portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund, Inc. Form Energy’s iron, water, and air batteries are optimied to store energy for 100 hours, a considerable improvement to the modern lithium-ion standard, typically a four-hour duration. The active components of its iron-air battery system are safe, cheap, and abundant, offering what the company deems the best solution to balance the multi-day variability of renewable energy due to its low cost, safety, durability, and global scalability. Form Energy’s iron-air solution portends to store energy at less than one-tenth the cost of lithium-ion tech and has no risk of thermal runaway.
GE Vernova and Form Energy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding areas of strategic collaboration to support Form Energy as it continues to ramp manufacturing operations and commercial deployments of its iron-air battery systems.
“To meet the urgent demands to modernize the grid and enable higher renewable energy generation, it’s essential to speed up the rollout of affordable technologies that can decarbonize the power grid while ensuring it remains secure, reliable, and resilient,” said president of GE Vernova, Jessica Uhl. “Form’s innovative 100-hour iron-air battery systems can be a game-changer, and we’re excited to play a role in helping them achieve global impact.”
This round of financing will enable Form Energy to speed up manufacturing at its first factory in Weirton, West Virginia, and contribute toward research and development. Form Energy broke ground on the Form Factory 1 site in May 2023 and completed construction just a year later.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains selected Form Energy for an award negotiation of up to $150 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing program. The money will support Form’s Project RAPID (Realizing Advanced Production of Iron-Air Batteries for Commercial Deployment) and partially fund the installation and operation of a new manufacturing line at Form Factory 1 that will have an annual production capacity of up to 20 GWh by 2027.
By 2028, Form Energy predicts Form Factory 1 will utilize more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing space, employ at least 750 people, and have a minimum annual manufacturing capacity of 500 MW.
“Form is at an exciting juncture as we gear up to fulfill our mission of deploying multi-day energy storage solutions that will enable a more reliable, clean, and resilient electric grid,” said Form Energy CEO and co-founder Mateo Jaramillo. “After seven years of dedicated R&D, product engineering, testing, and validation, and most recently trial production, our 100-hour iron-air battery system is ready for serial production and commercial deployment,” he added. “We are excited to continue proving that American manufacturing for innovative energy technology is alive and well, right here in the industrial heartland of West Virginia and the Ohio River Valley. This Series F funding will foster American innovation by accelerating the expansion of our multi-day battery manufacturing, creating new jobs, and upskilling a manufacturing workforce, as well as advancing the development of a more efficient and scalable process for low-cost green iron production.”
Form Energy’s internal analytics predict achieving Form’s cost and performance targets will unlock tens of gigawatts of demand for multi-day storage in the U.S. The company has signed deals to deploy its iron-air batteries with utilities including Xcel Energy, Southern Company, and Great River Energy.
Alongside Great River Energy, Form Energy broke ground on its first commercial battery installation in Cambridge, Minnesota in August, which is expected to come online in 2025. Other Form Energy batteries in Minnesota, Colorado, and California are also expected to become operational next year; There are projects in New York, Georgia, and Virginia set for 2026.
The Xcel project will be built next to a retiring coal plant called Sherco, Minnesota’s most powerful, which is slated to go offline in 2030.
“While it’s fun, it seems like a neat idea, the technology doesn’t exist,” said Rep. Chris Swedzinski, a Republican from southwest Minnesota, who has been outspoken about Minnesota’s 2040 clean energy targets.
—Renewable Energy World