Form Energy Raises $750M to Scale Up 100-Hour Iron-Air Batteries for the Grid

Battery startup Form Energy announced Wednesday it has raised $750 million to expand its manufacturing capacity in West Virginia, the latest signal that the AI data center boom is fueling a surge in energy storage investment. The U.S. installed 9.7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of energy storage in the first quarter of 2026, up 32% from the same period in 2025, according to industry data. Most of those systems can discharge for only a few hours, but Form Energy's iron-air batteries are designed to deliver power for up to 100 hours. This long-duration storage is particularly valuable because it can bridge the gap when renewable generation dips, helping to stabilize a grid that is expected to add renewables to more than 90% of all new U.S. generating capacity this year. Form's distinctive battery chemistry stores large amounts of electricity at lower cost by using iron instead of pricier materials like lithium, cobalt, or nickel. In Form's batteries, the iron undergoes oxidation and reduction as the battery discharges and charges—essentially turning iron into rust when discharging and reversing the process to turn rust back into iron when charging. This approach has already attracted major customers. Google is building a new data center in Minnesota that will be partly powered by a massive 30-GWh Form battery, a deal reported to cost the tech giant around $1 billion. Crusoe Energy said in March it would purchase 12 GWh of Form batteries for its data centers. Utility Xcel Energy and FuturEnergy Ireland are also customers. Roughly 80% of Form's materials are sourced from the U.S., with the remainder coming from Europe and Asia—notably not China. Chinese companies currently dominate both the battery supply chain and manufacturing, and both the Biden and Trump administrations have sought to reduce U.S. reliance on China for battery technology. Form's domestic-focused supply chain has helped it win major new contracts as U.S. electricity demand rises for the first time in decades. Data centers are a key driver: they are expected to quadruple their U.S. electricity consumption by 2035, using about 20% of the country's total electricity generation. The startup's backlog of commercial projects now stands at roughly 80 GWh of energy storage, up fourfold from earlier this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Series G round was led by T. Rowe Price, with participation 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.

via TechCrunch