Form Energy iron-air battery in Maine granted $147 million

The US Department of Energy has granted $147 million to construct an energy storage facility at a shuttered paper mill. The battery energy storage system (BESS) from Form Energy, a Somerville, Massachusetts-based grid-scale energy storage developer, will be able to store enough wind and solar power to serve up to 85,000 homes.

The 85 MW iron-air battery system is both safer and more affordable than its lithium-ion counterparts since it uses abundant iron and oxygen. The battery storage project will be one of the largest of its kind in the world and is meant to support one of the most congested parts of the New England grid.

Form Energy will deploy the 85 megawatt battery system at Lincoln Technology Park, which can discharge energy for up to 100 hours or just over four days. The Power Up New England program includes strengthening the transmission system to deliver higher power loads from renewable sources, including nearby onshore wind turbines. 

According to local media sources, US Sen. Angus King, an independent, said the project is a step forward in tackling the increase in extreme weather events in Maine. In December and January just passed, hundreds of thousands of Mainers were left without power for extended periods of time after the devastating storms that hit the state. 

Although iron-air battery systems are a nascent technology, iron-air batteries are finding increased attention globally as governments strive to secure grids with renewable energy using energy storage systems from abundant materials.

A recent report in Chinese media describes the metal-air battery industry internationally as showing “great market potential”. Supportive policies for these battery types have been developed in China, Japan and in Europe, while the US has funded the research and development of metal-air battery technology through the Advanced Energy Research Program (AERP).

According to the Chinese publication Sohu.com, the US and Japan are in the leading position globally in terms of metal-air battery technology research and industrialization. While comments below some local news sites in Maine would suggest the local population is still sceptical of the project, the operating company, Form Energy, is already building a number of such projects across the United States.

In June 2023, Form Energy announced a definitive agreement with Georgia Power, a Southern Company utility, to deploy a 15 MW / 1.5 GWh iron-air battery into the utility’s Georgia grid, providing a 100-hour dispatch long-duration energy storage (LDES) system. In July 2023, Minnesota’s public utilities commission approved Form Energy’s 10 MW/1 GWh iron-air long-duration energy storage facility construction project for Xcel Energy.

Later the same year, it became clear that, as more renewable energy comes online each year, the added flexibility and resiliency that energy storage provides has never been more critical—because the US grid is not as stable as it needs to be. A month later, Form Energy looked into the data and concluded that adding 23.4 GW of their long-duration energy storage would drastically enhance the efficiency of wind and solar, lowering the curtailment of renewables by up to 83% and reducing New England’s capacity of needed solar power by over 100 GW. In December 2023, Form Energy was awarded $30 million for a 100-hour energy project in California.

Mateo Jaramillo, CEO & Co-Founder of Form Energy. “Located at the site of a former paper mill in rural Maine, this iron-air battery system will have the most energy capacity of any battery system announced yet in the world. The project will ensure a more reliable, clean, and affordable grid in New England by reducing transmission congestion and making valuable wind energy resources available when and where they are needed. By locating the project at an EPA brownfield site, we look forward to driving local job growth and other community benefits. Overall, we are deeply thankful to the team of state and federal partners for bringing us on board for Power Up New England – a transformative investment in the future of clean energy for New England and America.”