Xcel Energy and Form Energy to Build Iron-Air Lattice Battery | News

Xcel Energy is partnering with Form Energy, an energy storage technology company, to build two 10-megawatt iron-air battery demonstration projects: one at the soon-to-be-shuttered Comanche Generating Station near Pueblo and another at the also-retiring Sherburne County Generating Station in Becker, Minn.

At a meeting in Pueblo on Thursday, Xcel Energy, Form Energy and the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration announced $4.3 million for planning, permitting and other development before construction of the projects begins. In May, Breakthrough Energy Catalyst announced a $10 million commitment to Xcel Energy to support the test project.

Form Energy says its iron-air batteries can provide cost-effective electricity for as long as 100 hours. According to a news release from Xcel Energy, the batteries will allow Xcel Energy to integrate more low-cost, renewable energy into its system and maintain grid reliability as it retires its coal plants.

Weather-dependent generating resources are inherently intermittent, and this is not good for a power grid that requires stable energy throughout the day and year-round.

“An unavoidable characteristic of renewable energy like solar and wind is that it is intermittent, meaning the sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day and the wind doesn’t always blow,” said Margaret Larson of OCED. “While shorter duration is currently being installed to support today’s level of renewable energy generation, longer duration is needed as more renewables are deployed on the grid and is a critical component of our strategy to increase renewable energy and improve grid reliability. “

Form’s technology uses rusting iron in a chemical process that releases electrons to generate electricity, providing electricity storage that can be regenerated. Form has developed the technology for what it says will be a utility-scale solution to the intermittent power generated by wind turbines and solar panels.

Most utility-scale battery technologies on the market can only provide four to six hours of energy storage at full rated power. While this is sufficient for some circumstances, recent severe weather events – from heat waves to cold snaps to millennial rains – have hampered the power grid.

Form Energy said the battery bank’s footprint uses about half a hectare of land per megawatt, and higher-density configurations could provide more than 3 megawatts per hectare. To replace the 1,365 MW capacity of the three Comanche generator units, Units 1, 2 and 3 would require 682 acres of batteries at one-half acre per MW, or 455 acres at three per MW.

Form Energy representatives told The Denver Gazette that its battery system requires one-tenth the space of solar for an equal amount of electricity.

Xcel said the groundbreaking will happen in early 2025, and the project is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2026.

Xcel is holding a virtual open house using Microsoft Teams in early December.