Form Energy's scalable battery energy storage technology includes rusting and rust removal of iron during discharge and charging. Image: Form Energy.



According to foreign media reports, Form Energy, a startup of ultra long term battery energy storage technology, is collaborating with Georgia Power to develop a potential 15MW/1500MWh project in the service area of this American utility company.



Form Energy announced his technology roadmap last year, and his iron air battery technology has been developed in a confidential mode for several years. This technology essentially involves iron rusting when releasing energy, and then converting the rust into metallic iron during charging.



Form Energy claims that this will provide long-term energy storage at low cost, storing and continuously releasing energy for up to 100 hours. If these claims are true, it can be cost-effective compared to thermal power plants and cheaper than other batteries.



Mateo Jaramillo, former director of Tesla Energy and CEO of Form Energy, stated in an interview last year that rechargeable batteries can compete in markets with high capacity factor resources, such as currently dominant open cycle gas turbines (OCGT) and coal.

In other words, iron air battery technology can position renewable energy as the basic load electricity of the grid. In fact, before being renamed Form Energy, the company was founded by the renowned MIT professor Yet Ming Chiang and was known as Baseload Renewables.



Recently, the company announced a partnership with Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Corporation, one of the largest energy utility holding companies in the United States.



Georgia Power and Form Energy are working together to find the best application for the 1500MWh iron air battery energy storage system (BESS) proposed by the technology provider.



"At Georgia Power, we know we must make wise investments and adopt new technologies to continue preparing for the future energy landscape of our state. As we continue to expand our renewable energy product portfolio, we believe that energy storage solutions will play an important role in ensuring that our customers continue to have reliable and resilient grids for decades to come," said Chris Womack, Chairman, President, and CEO of Georgia Power.



"We are pleased to collaborate with Georgia Power on this important project and provide a technological solution to accelerate the transition to a reliable, renewable, and affordable power grid," said Jaramillo.



"This collaboration demonstrates Georgia Power's commitment to innovative and economic solutions that bring maximum benefits to customers."


Coal withdrawal provides opportunities for long-term energy storage to bear basic loads




This is the second time Form Energy has announced a partnership with a US utility company. In May 2020, more than a year before the release of iron air battery technology, Form Energy and Minnesota utility company Great River Energy signed a pilot deployment agreement for the technology.



The pilot project for Great River is to deploy a 1MW/150MWh system. Not long after Great River Energy announced that it would replace coal in its energy mix with renewable energy and energy purchased from the market, the company announced this news. This includes phasing out a 1151 MW coal-fired power plant by 2023, the year when the Form Energy program pilot began.



At the same time, Georgia Power hopes to phase out existing coal-fired power units exceeding 3500 megawatts by 2028, and then shut down the remaining two units by 2035. The company plans to replace this capacity with a combination of natural gas and renewable energy. The Vogtle 3 and 4 nuclear power units are planned to be finally launched after years of challenging development.



Georgia Power has also started building an 80MW battery storage system, which it owns and operates, and recently requested permission to add an additional 1000MW of battery storage system in a comprehensive resource plan (IRP) submitted to the Georgia Public Services Commission (PSC). By 2030, incorporate these energy storage facilities into your operational portfolio.



So far, Form Energy has decided to collaborate with utility companies in two historically coal dependent regions, which seems to echo the CEO's assertion in an interview that the opportunity for iron air batteries with ultra long energy storage is to deliver applications that require hours or days of energy, while shorter energy storage applications are opportunities for lithium-ion and other technologies.



Jaramillo stated, "Although solar, wind, and lithium-ion batteries will meet a significant portion of future electricity demand, clean and reliable resources can significantly save costs and improve reliability compared to using only renewable energy and lithium-ion batteries.",



"How to provide clean and reliable electricity and purchase it has become a focus of attention, and we expect this situation to continue. We believe that cost-effective solutions are needed to supplement lithium-ion batteries and provide multiple days of storage."



The company is a member of the Global Long Term Energy Storage Council, and Google and Microsoft have recently joined the Long Term Energy Storage Committee. Form Energy was one of the largest venture capital trading targets in the energy storage industry last year, raising $240 million in the D-round financing that ended in August. Its investors include the large steel company ArcelorMittal.



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