Form Energy
Canvas Category OEM : Electrical Equipment
Form Energy is an American energy storage technology and manufacturing company that is developing and commercializing a pioneering iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with legacy power plants. Form’s multi-day battery will reform the global electricity system to run reliably and securely on low-cost clean energy. Form Energy was founded by energy storage veterans who came together in 2017 with a unified mission to reshape the global electric system by creating a new class of low-cost multi-day energy storage systems. Driven every day by Form’s interlocking core values of humanity, excellence, and creativity, our team is deeply motivated and inspired to transform the energy landscape and create a better world.
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How Can You Stop Batteries From Catching Fire? Perhaps by Adding Some Water
The quest for water-based batteries that are difficult, or impossible, to set on fire has attracted millions of dollars in government funding, as well as backing from global investors and power companies lured by manufacturers’ claims of not only improved safety but also lower costs.
Water hasn’t been used in lithium-ion batteries’ electrolytes—a component that is key to both the charging of the battery and the release of electricity—because the high voltage common in those batteries can pull water apart into oxygen and highly flammable hydrogen. That high voltage is needed for small, light lithium-ion batteries to provide sufficient power for devices like electric vehicles, small appliances and electronic devices.
But so-called long-duration batteries, such as those destined to store energy generated by solar panels or wind farms, don’t need to be small or light. That means lower voltages can be used, making water-based electrolytes viable. It also means metals that are heavier and cheaper than lithium can be used.
“The cost factor of course is important to our customers and that’s usually the first thing that hooks them. But it’s also not flammable,” says Thomas Nann, chief executive of Australia’s Allegro Energy, a maker of water-based batteries. Australia’s largest power company, Origin Energy, has taken a 5% stake in Allegro and is about to start a trial of the Allegro battery.
Form Energy Secures $405M in Series F Financing to Expand Iron-Air Battery Business and Operations
Form Energy, Inc., an American technology company developing and commercializing a new class of cost-effective, multi-day energy storage systems, announced a $405 million Series F financing round led by T. Rowe Price. Also joining the Series F round is GE Vernova, along with existing investors TPG Rise Climate, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), Capricorn’s Technology Impact Funds, Coatue, Energy Impact Partners (EIP), MIT’s The Engine Ventures, NGP, Temasek, GIC, Prelude Ventures, Claure Group, Gigascale Capital, Blindspot Ventures, and VamosVentures. The Series F brings Form Energy’s total funds raised to date at over $1.2B.
In addition to participating in the Series F financing round, 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.
Old West Virginia Steel Mill Becomes a Green-Energy Powerhouse
Form Energy will produce so-called long-duration batteries that are a critical piece of the clean-energy puzzle. More than $58 billion was invested in long-duration batteries worldwide between 2020 and 2022, according to Wood Mackenzie. The Biden administration appropriated $505 million for the development of long-duration storage in the 2021 infrastructure law, and last year’s Inflation Reduction Act contains substantial tax credits for long-duration battery projects.
There are many kinds of long-duration storage technologies, which the Energy Department defines as 10 to 160 hours of energy discharge. Thermal storage uses renewable energy to heat bricks, rocks or molten salt and release the energy later to make electricity. Less high-tech but equally effective is pumping water up a hill and letting it flow down to generate electricity. Form’s batteries deploy an electrochemical reaction that turns iron into rust and back again.