Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized energy storage, but inexpensive, truly long-duration batteries may still have a significant role to play in backing renewables and decarbonizing the grid. Form Energy is tackling that challenge with a new class of iron-air batteries. By oxidizing and reducing iron — essentially rusting and unrusting the earth&#x27;s most abundant metal — Form is creating low-cost, multi-day storage that competes directly with natural gas peaker plants. Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy, has spent over two decades in the battery industry, including building Tesla’s storage business. At Form, he’s leading the charge to bring these &quot;E-peakers&quot; to utilities across the country. The company recently achieved a major milestone: completing a one-million-square-foot factory on the site of an old steel mill in Weirton, West Virginia. In this episode, Mateo talks with host Lara Pierpoint about the grueling realities of scaling up manufacturing, why they chose to build in West Virginia, using AI to drive material science discovery and dig a data moat, and the immense logistical challenges of building the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition. Credits: Hosted by Lara Pierpoint. Produced and edited by Ross Kenyon, Anne Bailey, and Stephen Lacey. Sean Marquand is our technical director. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor. The Green Blueprint is a co-production of Latitude Media and Trellis Climate. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this show, subscribe to Latitude Media’s newsletter.

Form Energy's manufacturing breakthrough

The Green Blueprint

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** The Green Blueprint

## Participants

- **Lara Pierpoint** (Latitude Media)
- **Mateo Jaramillo** (Form Energy)

## Transcript

Latitude Media, covering the new frontiers of the energy transition. We went from, quite literally, batteries the size of a cup, like a coffee cup, to batteries that are now 80,000 pounds in a shipping container. And, you know, that journey is not going to be linear, I can tell you that. Lithium-ion batteries are storing energy for the grid in increasingly large volumes. But to solve for all of the grid's balancing needs, we could use energy storage with a much longer duration and a lower price point.

If you can make a battery for $20 a kilowatt hour, you get the 100 hours, and you have a very entitled place to bring a ton of value to the grid. It is differentiated, it enhances the value of all the rest of the systems in there, and it makes the entire portfolio of resources, whatever they are, operate more efficiently and the whole thing is cheaper. Mateo Jaramillo has been in the battery industry for over 20 years, including seven years building Tesla's storage business from the ground up.

But he knew that replacing a gas peaker plant with an electric peaker would require a fundamentally different approach to chemistry and to cost. When we started the company, we thought the probability of success was fairly low. Like, go invent a new type of battery that is going to solve the multi-day duration problem. Okay, that sounds amazing. There is no risk-free version of that, right? I'm Lara Pierpoint, and this is The Green Blueprint, a show about the architects of the clean energy economy.

We've already invented most of the solutions needed to decarbonize the global economy, but many of these technologies are not yet commercial, and they need to get financed and built at scale. We don't have decades to get these solutions commercialized. We have years. In today's episode, we're speaking with Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy. Form is on the cusp of bringing its massive long-duration batteries to utilities around the country.

But to make it happen, the company had to overcome immense manufacturing hurdles. Form Energy is commercializing a new class of iron-air storage for the grid. Its batteries work by oxidizing and reducing iron, literally rusting and unresting the most abundant substance on Earth. After years of R&D and proving the tech,

Form Energy recently completed a 1 million square foot factory on the site of an old steel mill in Weirton, West Virginia. And with demand surging on grids around the country, utilities and hyperscalers are more interested than ever. But it hasn't been easy. I talked with Mateo about the grueling realities of scaling up manufacturing, using AI to drive material science discovery, and what it really takes to build the physical infrastructure of the clean energy transition.

Mateo, thank you so much for joining us here on The Green Bluepri...

Form Energy's manufacturing breakthrough

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.

Form Energy's manufacturing breakthrough

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.