A Dutch startup just landed $43 million to solve one of renewable energy’s most stubborn problems: what to do when the sun sets and the wind dies. Ore Energy’s iron-air batteries promise 100 hours of storage, a leap that could finally make surplus clean power usable days after it’s generated.
European grids have long struggled with this timing mismatch. Wind and solar farms often produce more electricity than needed, forcing operators to simply discard the excess. Existing lithium-ion systems can bridge short gaps, but multi-day lulls remain a major barrier to full decarbonization. Ore Energy’s technology steps directly into that void.
The company’s core innovation works through a remarkably simple process. Iron electrodes rust to discharge energy and undergo a reverse reaction to store it. The entire cycle uses only iron, water, and air. No lithium. No cobalt. Crucially, every component can come from European suppliers, eliminating dependence on contested foreign supply chains.
Spun out of Delft University of Technology in 2023, the firm wasted little time proving its concept. Its founders connected the first known grid-tied iron-air battery at the university’s Green Village test site and later completed pilot projects with French utility giant EDF under real operating conditions. Those milestones helped attract a Series A round led by Plural and HV, with Positron Ventures also participating. Total backing now sits at $61 million.
Commercial traction is already materializing. Budobtain Thuis, a Dutch energy and telecom provider, signed a 1 GWh agreement with Ore Energy, marking continental Europe’s largest iron-air storage deal. The initial phase will deliver 400 megawatt hours, targeting deployment in 2028.
Long-duration storage also holds strategic value for the AI boom. Data center electricity consumption could more than double by 2030, and the unpredictable power swings from AI workloads make resilient grid infrastructure non-negotiable.
Ore Energy will channel the fresh capital into its first factory, laying groundwork for gigawatt-hour-scale production later this decade. American rival Form Energy has raised over a billion dollars pursuing similar chemistry, though Ore Energy’s wholly European supply chain offers a distinct advantage at a moment when industrial sovereignty dominates energy policy debates. The company’s ambition reaches well beyond its home region: leadership views iron-air tech as the default backbone for long-duration storage worldwide by 2035.
