IRON-AIR BATTERY SYSTEM FOR GEORGIA IS OPERATIONAL

Form Energy is moving ahead under an agreement with Georgia Power to deploy a 15 MW/1500 MWh iron-air battery system in Georgia. The multi-day battery system could come online as early as 2026 and is subject to regulatory approvals. Georgia Power proposed the collaboration in its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan to a cleaner resource mix.

Form Energy announced it is moving ahead under an agreement with Georgia Power to deploy a 15 MW/1500 MWh iron-air battery system in Georgia. The multi-day battery system could come online as early as 2026 and is subject to regulatory approvals.

In its 2022 Integrated Resource Plan Georgia Power proposed the collaboration to reflect its efforts shifting to a cleaner resource mix and - eventually - to introduce long-duration or multiday storage applications.

In its IRP the utility said it planned to evaluate opportunities in the 5-15 MW range to deploy this technology and it would return to Georgia regulators for project approval once it identified an optimal application.

Form Energy is backed by the Bill Gates-led investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

The company says its first announced commercial product, the iron-air-exchange battery, can deliver 100 hours of electricity at a price of less than $20/kWh.

Form reports that the technology’s basic principle of operation is reversible rusting. While discharging, the battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. While charging, the application of an electrical current converts the rust back to iron and the battery breathes out oxygen.

The companies will continue to fully evaluate that the 100-hour iron-air battery technology will strengthen Georgia’s electric grid against normal day-to-day, week-to-week, and season-to-season weather variability.

This analysis includes modeling by Georgia Power and Form Energy’s operational modeling tool for power grids.

What is iron-air battery technology all about? Iron–air rechargeable batteries are seen as an attractive technology with the potential of gridscale energy storage.

The main raw-material of this technology is iron oxide (rust) which is abundant, non-toxic, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly.

Most of the batteries currently being developed utilize iron oxide powders to generate and store hydrogen via the Fe/FeO reduction/oxidation (redox) reaction (Fe + H2O ⇌ FeO + H2).

In conjunction with a fuel cell, this enables the system to behave as a rechargeable battery, creating H2O/H2 via the production and consumption of electricity.

Furthermore, this technology has minimal environmental impact, as it could be used to store energy from intermittent or variable energy sources, such as solar and wind, developing an energy system with low carbon dioxide emissions.

One way the system can start is by using the Fe/FeO redox reaction.

Hydrogen created during the oxidation of iron and of oxygen from the air can be consumed by a fuel cell to create electricity.

When electricity must be stored, hydrogen generated from water by operating the fuel cell in reverse is consumed during the reduction of the iron oxide to metallic iron.

The combination of both of these cycles is what makes the system operate as an iron–air rechargeable battery.

Limitations of this technology come from the materials used. Generally, iron oxide powder beds are selected; however, rapid sintering and pulverization of the powders is said to limit the ability to achieve a high number of cycles, which results in diminished capacity.

Other methods currently under investigation, such as 3D printing and freeze-casting, seek to enable the creation of architecture materials to allow for high surface area and volume changes during the redox reaction.

Form Energy is an American energy storage technology and manufacturing company which 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 reliably run on 100% low-cost renewable energy, every day of the year., says the company formenergy.com

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, the company’s team is said to be ‘deeply motivated and inspired to transform the energy landscape and create a better world’.