AI boom is catapulting batteries into mainstream

Driving the news: Form Energy will provide its multi-day storage technology to data center developer Crusoe in an announcement made Tuesday at CERAWeek by S&P Global now underway in Houston.

• Also Tuesday, Crusoe expanded an existing deal with Redwood Materials, another energy storage company.
• These come on the heels of at least two other deals in the last few weeks committing to deploy novel battery technologies to power data centers, including a huge one with Form and Google.

"We just see that the moment for batteries is really here," said Cully Cavness, co-founder and president of Crusoe. "It's ultimately about having more control of our timelines, taking our destination into our own hands."

The big picture: The race for power is driving huge investments in a series of energy technologies, ranging from traditional natural gas to fusion, as the AI industry races to secure power that correlates with more AI compute capacity.

Zoom in: Under the agreement announced Tuesday, Form will deliver 12 gigawatt-hours of multi-day energy storage by 2027.

State of play: Cavness said the deal also reflects pressure from President Trump for tech companies to ensure the AI buildout doesn't drive up electricity costs for others.

• Form CEO Mateo Jaramillo said the company's technology can help balance renewables and reduce overall system costs.

How it works: Form Energy makes ultra-long batteries that store electricity by turning iron into rust — and then reverse the process to release that energy days later.

• The system relies on iron — a cheap, widely available material — instead of more expensive metals used in conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Zoom out: Both executives — in separate interviews Tuesday in Houston — say deals like this could accelerate broader adoption of new energy technologies.

• "It's important because it's a large load driver, but it's also an innovation driver," Jaramillo said.

• Electric utilities can show they're able to pursue new business models like those incorporating long-duration energy storage, he added.
• "We also have the opportunity to plant seeds of innovation and use purchasing power to create demand signals for future energy innovation," Cavness said.

Yes, but: Form has a growing list of projects — but only one factory (in West Virginia) so far, underscoring the challenge of scaling up.

• "There are a lot of challenges as we go up the ramp-up," Jaramillo said.
• A key one is balancing the timeline with the amount of added capacity, and not biting off too much too fast, he added.

Reality check: Natural gas is still the most ascendant of any technology, according to Cavness.

• "It's the power source that is most scalable and available today," he said.

The intrigue: Combining storage and natural gas plants is "maybe an under-appreciated" part of the market, Jaramillo said.

What's next: Both Crusoe and Form are eyeing the public markets. Crusoe is likely to go public this year, while Form's timeline is a little less clear but still in sight.

• "The plan is emerging. It's very much on the horizon," Jaramillo said. "But our top priority is to scale up the factory."