{"id":24951,"date":"2026-02-25T06:14:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24951"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:14:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:14:45","slug":"googles-new-1-9gw-clean-energy-deal-includes-massive-100-hour-battery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=24951","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s new 1.9GW clean energy deal includes massive 100-hour battery"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Google announced<\/a> Tuesday that it will build a data center in Minnesota that\u2019s backed by 1.9 gigawatts of clean power, including a massive 300-megawatt battery made by startup Form Energy.<\/p>\n

The new data center, Google\u2019s first in Minnesota, will be located in Pine Island, about an hour southeast of Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

The tech company is working with Xcel Energy to build 1.4 gigawatts of wind power and 200 megawatts of solar power. Both will feed Form\u2019s battery, which will be capable of delivering its rated power for 100 hours. At 30 gigawatt-hours, it will be the largest battery in the world, helping the data center operate on clean energy for longer periods of time.<\/p>\n

Such long-duration batteries help renewable energy sources continue to provide power at night or during lulls, \u201cfirming\u201d the power source, as experts call it. Grid-scale lithium-ion batteries<\/a> do this already, though for shorter periods.<\/p>\n

Form Energy\u2019s batteries<\/a> are unlike most other grid-scale batteries. Whereas a typical grid-scale battery today uses lithium-ion technology that\u2019s been repurposed from chemistries used by the automotive industry, Form\u2019s batteries store energy by rusting and deoxidizing iron.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When oxygen from the air flows over pebbles of iron inside the battery, it rusts the iron, generating electricity in the process. To charge, electrical current deoxidizes the rust, turning it back into metallic iron and releasing oxygen in the process, which is drawn out of the battery.<\/p>\n

As battery chemistries go, Form\u2019s iron-air cells are heavy and not very efficient. Typical iron-air batteries can only deliver 50% to 70% of the energy used to charge them, compared with upwards of 90% for lithium-ion batteries. But for all their downsides, they come with one very large upside: they\u2019re incredibly cheap. Form says 1 kilowatt-hour of storage will ultimately cost just $20 using their technology, which is at least three times cheaper than lithium-ion batteries.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 9, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The new project also introduces a wonky utility fee structure to Minnesota that\u2019s intended to help utilities adopt clean technologies without running afoul of their regulators, which push utilities to use the cheapest source of electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google first developed the concept in Nevada, where it\u2019s buying power from enhanced geothermal startup Fervo. Alternately called the \u201cclean transition tariff\u201d or the \u201cclean energy accelerator charge,\u201d the agreement between Google and Xcel allows the utility to accept projects that might be considered risky by regulators, with the tech company paying a premium to ensure that regular ratepayers aren\u2019t left holding the bag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solar and wind are both proven technologies, but Form\u2019s iron-air batteries are still relatively new. The startup\u2019s first battery is currently being installed in Minnesota with cooperative utility Great River Energy, and it will store 150 megawatt-hours for 100 hours, sending 1.5 megawatts to the grid at its peak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Form makes its batteries at a factory in West Virginia. The company has raised $1.4 billion to date, according to PitchBook data.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google announced Tuesday that … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[249],"tags":[10976,811,969,14381,715,2613,5404],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24951"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}