Form Energy
Assembly Line
Old West Virginia Steel Mill Becomes a Green-Energy Powerhouse
Form Energy will produce so-called long-duration batteries that are a critical piece of the clean-energy puzzle. More than $58 billion was invested in long-duration batteries worldwide between 2020 and 2022, according to Wood Mackenzie. The Biden administration appropriated $505 million for the development of long-duration storage in the 2021 infrastructure law, and last year’s Inflation Reduction Act contains substantial tax credits for long-duration battery projects.
There are many kinds of long-duration storage technologies, which the Energy Department defines as 10 to 160 hours of energy discharge. Thermal storage uses renewable energy to heat bricks, rocks or molten salt and release the energy later to make electricity. Less high-tech but equally effective is pumping water up a hill and letting it flow down to generate electricity. Form’s batteries deploy an electrochemical reaction that turns iron into rust and back again.