New England residents will soon have more power at their fingertips thanks to the world's largest battery with a whopping 85-megawatt output, set to be built in Maine by energy storage startup Form Energy.
While numerous large-scale battery installations exist worldwide, most use lithium-ion batteries, which come with several downsides. Lithium-ion battery prices have dropped recently, but the technology is still quite costly. In addition, they typically have a storage capacity of four hours or less and can ignite or explode in rare cases.
For these reasons, Form Energy is opting for iron-air batteries for the massive battery project. These batteries need only air, water, and iron to operate, harnessing the power of rust and a non-flammable water-based electrolyte to store and discharge energy, as Interesting Engineering explained.
Iron-air batteries are around 90% less expensive to install than lithium-ion and have a much longer duration — around 100 hours of energy output. Plus, there's no fire risk and a much lower environmental impact.
The battery will be deployed in Lincoln, Maine, where a paper and pulp mill once stood. According to Interesting Engineering, the Department of Energy awarded Form Energy $147 million for the 8,500 megawatt-hour capacity battery project, and the company expects it will be operational by 2028.
"While other energy storage solutions, such as pumped hydro plants, have much bigger capacity, this will be the first installation at such a scale using battery technology alone," Interesting Engineering explained.
As Canary Media detailed, the project is much-needed in New England since its grid is vulnerable because of finite supplies of oil and gas. Environmental regulations prevent the construction of new pipelines in the region, forcing northeast states to rely on liquified natural gas imports.
This is especially problematic in the winter when energy demand spikes during cold snaps and power plants must burn oil when gas reserves dwindle.
However, with the world's largest battery storing excess clean energy from wind and solar farms, it will reduce New England's reliance on dirty fuel sources and make the grid more resilient during peak hours or extreme weather.
In addition, having more energy available could help reduce electric bills for residents and lower pollution levels in the area. Plus, Canary Media reported that Form expects the project to bring about 100 short-term construction jobs and five to 10 permanent positions to the region, making it a win-win-win for people, the electric grid, and the planet.
"The New England grid is moving quickly to address its vulnerabilities from a reliability standpoint and its ability to bring on additional low-cost renewables," Form co-founder and CEO Mateo Jaramillo told Canary. "Having multiday-duration storage gives them more levers to solve that complex challenge they have for their grid."
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