Form Energy raises $750M to build more 100-hour batteries for the grid

Battery startup Form Energy said connected Wednesday that it has raised $750 cardinal to grow its manufacturing capableness successful West Virginia, the latest motion that the AI information halfway gathering roar is fueling concern successful vigor storage.

The U.S. installed 9.7 gigawatt-hours of vigor retention successful the archetypal 3 months of this year, up 32% from 2025. Most of those batteries tin discharge for a fewer hours astatine most, but Form Energy’s iron-air batteries tin present powerfulness for up to 100 hours. Long-duration vigor retention is peculiarly desirable due to the fact that it tin assistance span the powerfulness proviso spread successful renewable powerfulness generation, which is expected to relationship for more than 90% of caller generating capableness successful the U.S. this year.

Form’s unsocial artillery chemistry helps it store monolithic amounts of energy for little by relying connected robust alternatively of pricier minerals similar lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Inside a Form battery, robust is oxidized and reduced arsenic it is discharged and charged — that is, the artillery turns robust into rust erstwhile it discharges and reverses the process erstwhile it charges, turning rust backmost into iron. 

The attack has helped Form onshore immoderate large customers. Google is gathering a new information halfway successful Minnesota that volition beryllium partially powered by a massive, 30-gigawatt-hour Form artillery that outgo the tech institution about $1 billion. Crusoe said successful March that it would bargain 12 gigawatt-hours of batteries from Form. Utility Xcel Energy is besides a customer, arsenic is FuturEnergy Ireland.

Some 80% of Form’s materials travel from the U.S., portion the equilibrium comes from Europe and Asia — notably not China. Chinese companies predominate some the artillery proviso concatenation and artillery manufacturing, and some the Biden and Trump administrations person sought to alteration U.S. reliance connected China for batteries.

The company’s domestic-focused proviso concatenation has helped it onshore large caller customers arsenic U.S. energy request rises for the archetypal clip successful decades. Data centers are mostly liable for the uptick; they are expected to quadruple their energy use successful the U.S. by 2035, consuming astir 20% of each energy generated successful the country.

The startup presently has a backlog of commercialized projects worthy astir 80 gigawatt-hours of vigor storage, the Wall Street Journal reported, up fourfold from earlier this year.

The Series G circular was led by T. Rowe Price with information from Sequoia Capital, Janus Henderson, Franklin Templeton, PEAK6 Investments, Prelude Ventures, Engine Ventures, TPG Rise Climate, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Funds, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Dustin Moskovitz and Cari Tuna, Gigascale Capital, Coatue, Energy Impact Partners, NGP, GE Vernova, Blindspot Ventures, and M&G Catalyst Fund.