Form said it plans to source iron domestically, for manufacture close to where they will be sited. One of the world’s biggest steel companies, employing nearly 170,000 people globally, ArcelorMittal launched the fund to invest in breakthrough technologies that can enable low carbon steelmaking.įorm Energy and ArcelorMittal are also working to jointly develop iron materials which would be supplied for use in the battery systems. Leading the round was ArcelorMittal’s XCarb innovation fund. That 1MW system is expected to be online in late 2023 and Jaramillo told this site wider deployment of the iron-air technology will be possible the following year.įorm Energy said in a press release sent to media including Energy-Storage.news yesterday that the new financing will accelerate the company’s market entry.
The company’s first contract for a pilot project has been signed with Minnesota utility Great River Energy. Jaramillo, former director of Tesla Motors’ powertrain business and director of Tesla Energy, co-founded Form Energy to pursue what he called “the biggest opportunity on the grid for energy storage”: creating a battery that when paired with renewables can cost-effectively replace fossil fuels at scale. Essentially, the battery oxidises iron, turning it to rust as the battery discharges, then application of an electrical current as it recharges converts the rust back to iron, emitting only oxygen.
Such a device could bring about an age of renewable energy as baseload power for the grid, making wind and solar fully competitive with thermal generation, Form Energy CEO Matteo Jaramillo told Energy-Storage.news in an interview in April.
Earlier this year, Form Energy ended a period of stealth mode operation by finally disclosing the chemistry and technological principles behind its battery, intended to enable bulk storage of energy for as much as 150 hours. The energy storage company also counts Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures among its investors.
#Form energy series#
Form Energy has closed its Series D financing round, with investors including steel company ArcelorMittal putting US$240 million into the Boston-headquartered iron-air battery startup.
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