![](images/Logos/PV%20Magazine.jpg)
July 14, 2023
By
JOHN FITZGERALD WEAVER
Former US coal plant to host 100-hour
iron-air battery
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
has approved Form Energy’s 10 MW/1 GWh iron-air long-duration storage
facility for Xcel Energy.
![](images/images_07_14_2023/FormEnergy.image_.featured-1536x945-1-1200x738.png)
Image: Form Energy
PUC has approved Form Energy’s construction of a
10 MW/1 GWh iron-air long-duration energy storage facility for Xcel
Energy. It is scheduled to be built on the site of the former
Sherburne County Generating Station, which is a coal-fired generating
plant on the banks of the Mississippi River. The project will replace
a facility previously capable of delivering over 2.2 GW of
coal-generated power.
Xcel plans to start construction in mid-2024, aiming to bring the site
online by mid-2025. The project proposal submitted to PUC has been
largely redacted, concealing many details, including specific cost
information, from the public. This is somewhat ironic, given the
“public” nature of the utilities commission.
The filing does disclose that the project’s location on a brownfield/coal
site qualifies it for an additional 10% tax credit adder under the US
Inflation Reduction Act. The filing also implies that the project
might also be eligible for a 10% domestic content tax credit adder, as
Form Energy has expressed commitment to ensuring their product’s
qualification. In a recent development, Form Energy announced the
establishment of a factory in West Virginia.
According to a different Minnesota PUC docket, a white paper from Form
Energy (Docket No. ET-2/RP-22-75), prepared as part of the
slower-progressing Cambridge Energy station, provides insights into
the cost inputs for the financial modeling tools (see table below).
Form Energy estimates the cost of iron-air energy storage hardware,
under the “All-in Capital Cost,” to be between $1,700 and $2,400 per
kW, with operating costs of $19/kW per year.
Although the hardware costs are two to three
times higher due to its unique nature (100-hour battery capacity),
Form Energy projects the operating costs to be less than half of those
for eight-hour lithium-ion batteries.
![](images/images_07_14_2023/FormEnergy.image_sm.3.png)
Green Play Ammonia™, Yielder® NFuel Energy.
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www.exactrix.com
509 995 1879 cell, Pacific.
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