Google’s new 1.9GW clean energy deal includes massive 100-hour battery

Source: TechCrunch

Announcement

Google announced Tuesday that it will build a data center in Minnesota backed by 1.9 GW of clean power, including a massive 300‑MW battery made by startup Form Energy.

Project Overview

• Location: Pine Island, about an hour southeast of Minneapolis – Google’s first data center in Minnesota.
• Power mix: 1.4 GW of wind power and 200 MW of solar power, supplied by Xcel Energy.
• Battery: A 300‑MW, 30 GWh iron‑air battery capable of delivering its rated power for 100 hours, making it the largest battery in the world. This long‑duration storage helps the data center run on clean energy for extended periods, “firming” the power supply when wind or solar output dips.

Battery Technology

Form Energy’s iron‑air batteries differ from typical grid‑scale lithium‑ion systems:

• Chemistry: Energy is stored by rusting iron pebbles when oxygen from the air reacts with them, generating electricity. Charging reverses the reaction, de‑oxidizing the rust back to metallic iron and releasing oxygen.
• Efficiency: Iron‑air cells deliver 50 %–70 % of the energy used to charge them, compared with >90 % for lithium‑ion batteries.
• Cost: Form projects a storage cost of about $20 per kWh, roughly three times cheaper than lithium‑ion solutions.

Utility Fee Structure

Google and Xcel Energy have introduced a “clean transition tariff” (also called a “clean energy accelerator charge”). This structure:

• Allows utilities to adopt clean‑technology projects that might be deemed risky by regulators.
• Involves Google paying a premium so that regular ratepayers are not burdened with higher costs.
• Mirrors a similar approach Google piloted in Nevada with geothermal power from Fervo.

Form Energy Background

• Current deployment: The first iron‑air battery is being installed in Minnesota with Great River Energy, storing 150 MWh for 100 hours and delivering up to 1.5 MW to the grid at peak.
• Manufacturing: Batteries are produced at a factory in West Virginia.
• Funding: Form Energy has raised $1.4 billion to date (PitchBook).

References

• Google’s announcement: https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/infrastructure-and-cloud/global-network/data-center-pine-island/
• Grid‑scale lithium‑ion batteries overview: https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/05/energy-storage-industry-set-aggressive-goals-for-2025-and-already-crushed-them/
• Form Energy’s iron‑air battery details: https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/06/form-energys-iron-air-battery-on-pace-for-2024-launch-with-450m-series-e/