Form Energy, that has been developing an ultra-low-cost and long-duration energy storage for the grid, has recently inked a contract with Great River Energy, that is based in Minnesota, for the development of 1 megawatt, 150-megawatt hour pilot project. Form Energy has created a newer storage technology which is known as an aqueous air battery system. Such technology is capable of making 100% affordable and reliable renewable electricity system a major possibility. The installation of Great River Energy in Cambridge at Minn is basically the second-biggest electric utility across the U.S. and shall see the first commercial deployment of the long-duration energy storage technology of Form Energy, which has been backed by venture capital. The battery system of Form Energy has the capability of delivering 1 megawatt of power for about 150 hours which is a significant leap over the lithium-ion batteries frequently used for the majority of grid projects. The battery systems are capable of lasting for around two-to-four hours. The change of step in the energy delivery duration shall let the energy storage projects to further help replace the power plants for peak times, that are mainly relying on both natural gas and coal to smoothen the demand on the grid. Princeton University’s assistant professor, Jesse Jenkins who studies engineering on low-carbon energy systems said that energy storage solutions with long duration shall be playing an important and different role within a clean electricity system, compared to a conventional battery storage system being developed at a certain scale currently. Jenkins further added that the lithium-ion batteries are best suited to the rapid burst of energy production, however, they often run out of energy after some hours. While long-duration and low-cost energy storage solutions are capable of sustaining output for several days, and can fill gaps in the solar and wind energy production that would have otherwise needed firing up of multiple fossil-fueled power plants. Source Credit- https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/07/in-a-potential-big-win-for-renewable-energy-form-energy-gets-its-first-grid-scale-battery-installation/
