The California Energy Commission on Dec. 13 adopted a resolution allowing Form Energy Inc. to build and operate its East Road Storage Project, touted as the state's first multiday battery storage resource.
Regulators also approved $30 million in state funding for the planned 5-MW/500-MWh array in Mendocino County, Calif., which is intended to demonstrate Form's iron-air battery technology. The energy storage upstart aims to commission the project in 2025 and operate it for at least five years, testing various use cases for the 100-hour storage system.
"The benefit of this is that it really does open a new technology category within a very dynamic and fast-growing technology sector ... and it also gives us diversity on supply chain," Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild said at the meeting ahead of the agency's unanimous vote to approve the resolution.
Hochschild highlighted Form's planned domestic battery production, distinguishing it from the vast majority of battery storage in California, which relies on lithium-ion batteries largely imported from China. Most of California's current battery fleet discharges energy for up to only four hours.
State funding for the project comes from the CEC's Long Duration Energy Storage Program, which has a budget of up to $330 million. The facility will connect to an adjacent substation owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., the operating arm of PG&E Corp.
Supporting reliable decarbonization
Form Energy is among dozens of energy storage startups vying to scale up lithium-ion alternatives.
"This type of multiday storage and this technology class is needed for California to meet its 100% zero-carbon goals and also maintain a reliable and affordable electricity system," Jason Houck, Form's senior manager for policy strategy, said at the meeting. The project "will operate every day of the year to balance the hourly, multiday and seasonal variability of renewable energy resources," he added.
The company in May broke ground on its first factory in West Virginia, an up to $760 million facility at the site of a former steel mill.
Based on energy storage capacity, Form has the world's largest pipeline of planned non-lithium battery storage projects, at roughly 4,000 MWh, according to a November report from S&P Global Commodity Insights. That includes two 10-MWh/1,000 MWh projects that Xcel Energy Inc. is adding at retiring coal plants in Colorado and Minnesota.
In its bid to commercialize iron-air batteries, Form has raised around $838.6 million in six disclosed funding rounds from 18 investors. Among its backers are Breakthrough Energy LLC, an investment firm founded by Bill Gates, and the XCarb innovation fund, the investment arm of European steel giant ArcelorMittal SA.
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