Xcel to install two long duration batteries at retiring coal plants in Minnesota and Colorado

Energy Storage News:

‘Multi-day’ battery storage startup Form Energy’s proprietary iron-air battery is set to be deployed at the sites of two US coal power plants due for retirement.

Form Energy said yesterday that definitive agreements have been signed with Minnesota-headquartered utility company Xcel Energy for the two projects, one in Minnesota and the other in Colorado.

Form has developed a novel electrochemical storage tech that it claims can be made at low-cost using abundant materials, and capable of discharging at relatively high power for much longer than lithium-ion or even flow batteries.

If it pencils out as the company hopes, that gives it a good shot at directly replacing the dispatchable attributes of thermal power plants, CEO Mateo Jaramillo told this site as the company emerged from stealth mode a while back.

Since then, Form has netted significant investment – including a US$450 million fund raise which closed in October – decided to put its first factory in West Virginia, and signed up to pilot project or feasibility study partnerships with two utilities, Great River Energy (also in Minnesota) and Georgia Power.

[Andy Colthorpe]

More: US utility Xcel to put Form Energy’s 100-hour iron-air battery at retiring coal power plant sites