Form Energy, a company developing ultra-low-cost, long-duration energy storage for the grid, has signed a contract with Minnesota-based utility Great River Energy to jointly deploy a 1MW / 150MWh pilot project to be located in Cambridge.
This system will be the first commercial deployment of Form Energy’s proprietary long-duration energy storage system. Form Energy’s aqueous air battery system leverages some of the safest, cheapest, most abundant materials and offers a clear path to low-cost, long-duration energy storage.
The project with Great River Energy will be a 1MW, grid-connected storage system capable of delivering its rated power continuously for 150 hours, far longer than the two to four hour usage period common among lithium-ion batteries being deployed at utility-scale today.
Leading up to the decision to deploy the pilot project, Form Energy conducted a portfolio optimization study of Great River Energy’s system characteristics with Formware, a proprietary software analytics platform design to help energy planners model future grids.
“In order to understand how best to make the energy transition, new analytical tools are needed, and Formware allowed us to work with GRE to systematically and thoroughly understand the value that our assets can bring to their system.”
Marco Ferrara, SVP Analytics and Business Development for Form Energy.
“Great River Energy is excited to partner with Form Energy on this important project. The electrical grid is increasingly supplied by renewable sources of energy. Commercially viable long-duration storage could increase reliability by ensuring that the power generated by renewable energy is available at all hours to serve our membership. Such storage could be particularly important during extreme weather conditions that last several days. Long-duration storage also provides an excellent hedge against volatile energy prices.”
Jon Brekke, Great River Energy vice president and chief power supply officer.
“Our vision at Form Energy is to unlock the power of renewable energy to transform the grid with our proprietary long-duration storage. This project represents a bold step toward proving that vision of an affordable, renewable future is possible without sacrificing reliability.”
Mateo Jaramillo, CEO of Form Energy.
Great River Energy announced plans to transition its portfolio of power supply resources in the coming years. The electric cooperative plans to phase out its remaining coal resources, add significant renewable energy, and partner with Form Energy on its grid-scale battery technology.
