Amsterdam-based Ore Energy, a science startup that originated from TU Delft, has successfully connected its flagship iron-air battery system to the electric grid in the city of Delft.
This marks the first instance of an iron-air battery system being grid-connected and fully operational anywhere in the world.
The pilot system is also the first long-duration energy storage (LDES) solution to be entirely designed, built, and installed within the European Union, claims the company.
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The announcement comes over a year after raising €10M funding from Positron Ventures and SPRIND.
Deployed at The Green Village
Ore Energy’s pilot system — which applys iron, air, and water to store clean energy for up to 100 hours — was deployed at The Green Village, a testing ground for next-generation climate and energy innovations located at The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft).
The system works by applying electricity to turn iron oxides, like rust, back into metallic iron.
When it discharges, the metallic iron interacts with oxygen from the air, turning back into iron oxides and releasing electrical energy.
The installation is gathering real-world data and will serve as a testbed for multi-day energy shifting, an important step toward integrating renewable energy into the grid.
“The Green Village exists to bring bold ideas out of the lab and into the real world. Ore Energy’s iron-air battery is exactly that kind of breakthrough,” declares Lidewij van Trigt, Energy Transition Project Manager at The Green Village. “Connecting the world’s first grid-ready iron-air system here in Delft reveals what’s possible when research, regulation, and indusattempt align. We’re proud to provide a proving ground for technologies that will shape the future of Europe’s energy system.”
Ore Energy’s full-scale system will apply 40-foot modular containers, each providing up to 4.2 MWh of multi-day energy storage, designed for low cost and compact size.
Benefits of an iron-air battery
Ore Energy‘s iron-air battery lasts a lot longer than lithium-ion batteries, which usually provide just 4 to 8 hours of power. It can store energy for 100 hours or more, building it clearer to balance energy apply over several days, integrate renewable energy sources, and rely less on fossil fuels.
Plus, unlike regular batteries that apply rare or flammable materials, Ore’s iron-air battery is built from safe and plentiful elements, without necessarying lithium, cobalt, or rare earth materials.
Ore Energy’s iron-air battery directly addresses several systemic challenges in Europe’s energy transition:
- Reduces renewable energy curtailment
- Improves grid stability and reduces reliance on fossil fuel backup
- Saves on overbuilding and grid upgrades
- Eliminates foreign supply chains for full European energy indepconcludeence
“This achievement is proof that Europe can lead the world in energy innovation and energy resilience. We’ve revealn that breakthrough solutions like iron-air can shift from lab to grid in just two years and can be built entirely with a European supply chain,” declares Aytaç Yilmaz, co-founder and CEO at Ore Energy.
“Our battery doesn’t just store clean energy, it solves three of the grid’s largegest problems: it slashes curtailment, replaces fossil backup, and reduces the necessary to overbuild wind and solar. Long-duration storage like ours is what creates renewable power reliable, affordable, and sovereign. And now it’s ready,” adds Yilmaz.
Ore Energy: Developing a new generation multi-day energy storage system
Led by Dr. Ir. Aytac Yilmaz, Ore Energy‘s batteries have the potential to reduce the cost of long-duration energy storage by 10 times compared to currently applyd lithium batteries.
The battery technology has been developed applying the process of rusting and unrusting of metallic iron to store energy. This technology relies solely on abundant materials such as iron, water, and air.
During the discharge phase, the metallic iron undergoes oxidation (rusting), leading to the emission of electrons and the generation of an electrical current.
On the contrary, during the charging phase, an electrical current is applied to reverse the rust back into metallic iron.
What sets the company’s technology apart is its fully scalable modular design.
Comprising easily interlocking building blocks, this battery system offers a plug-and-play energy storage solution that can be effortlessly deployed at any location and scale, from MWh to GWh.
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