Form Energy’s New Low-Cost, Iron-Air Battery Runs for 100 Hours
Finding a way to
store large amounts of energy at low cost will be vital if
we want to shift our grids to renewable
energy. A new
iron-air battery that
can deliver power for 100 hours at one-tenth the cost of
lithium ion could
be the key.
Rapid improvements
in the cost and capacity of lithium-ion batteries are transforming the
transport sector, helping electric
vehicles go toe-to-toe with gas-powered cars. Prices have dropped
so low that lithium-ion batteries increasingly make sense
for large-scale applications, such as storing
excess renewable energy for
when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow.
But there’s one
place where they’re still of little use: storing energy for multiple
days. This is
crucial, because a grid reliant on large amounts of renewables doesn’t
only have to contend with daily variations in sun and wind—a major
storm can block out the sun or an extended period of calm can bring
turbines to a halt for days at a time.
A secretive startup
backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures thinks it may have
the answer, though. Form
Energy, which was co-founded by the creator of Tesla’s Powerwall
battery, Mateo Jaramillo, and MIT battery guru Yet-Ming Chiang, has
unveiled a new battery design that essentially relies on a process of
“reversible rusting” to provide multi-day energy storage at ultra-low
costs.
“With this
technology, we are tackling the biggest barrier to deep
decarbonization: making renewable energy available when and where it’s
needed, even during multiple days of extreme weather or grid outages,”
Jaramillo said
in a press release.
The company’s
batteries are each about the size of a washing machine, and are filled
with iron pellets and a water-based electrolyte similar to that used
in AA batteries. To discharge, the battery breathes in oxygen from the
air, converting the pellets to iron
oxide, or rust, and
producing electricity in the process. To
charge, the
application of a current converts the
rust back into iron and expels the
oxygen.
The key to their
approach is the low cost of the constituent materials. Today’s
lithium-ion batteries cost $50 to $80 per kilowatt-hour thanks to the
expensive minerals required to make them, like nickel, cobalt,
lithium, and manganese. According to the Wall
Street Journal,
Form can make theirs for just $20 per kilowatt-hour, and they will be
able to provide power for 100 to 150 hours, depending on the
configuration.
That’s significant,
because recent research
in Joule found
that below this cost, the combination of energy storage and renewables
could provide reliable baseload power 100 percent of the time in
places with abundant renewable energy, like Texas and Arizona, making
it possible to completely do away with fossil fuel power plants.
These batteries
aren’t small, though, and certainly won’t be finding their way into
electric vehicles or consumer electronics. Form plans to create
megawatt-scale “powerblocks” made up of thousands of its
batteries, which can then be combined in tens or hundreds depending on
the desired amount of storage.
So far the company
has only built a prototype of a single battery cell, but it has
already inked a deal for a 300-megawatt pilot project with
Minnesota-based Great River Energy that will go live in 2023, according
to Recharge
News. It
also has significant backing from steel giant ArcelorMittal,
which will be providing the raw materials for its batteries.
Battery technology
is notoriously difficult, and many seemingly promising startups have
struggled to make the transition from successful demo to commercially
viable product. Form also faces considerable competition from a
host of startups developing
new long-duration battery chemistries, as well as others building a
variety of thermal, mechanical, and gravity-based storage
alternatives.
But with a simple
chemistry, high-profile backers, and considerable expertise, it seems
Form is in a good position to make reliable, long-term energy storage
a reality.
Image Credit: seagul from Pixabay
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