Google Form Energy battery deal: 1B dollars for Minnesota

Published: 27 Feb 2026

Google has officially committed to a landmark energy partnership in Minnesota, marking one of the most significant investments in long-duration energy storage to date. Central to the deal is a massive $1 billion commitment to integrate a unique 100-hour iron-air battery system developed by the startup Form Energy. This project, located in Pine Island, will anchor a new data center powered by a massive 1.9 gigawatt renewable energy portfolio. By utilizing rust-based battery technology, Google aims to mitigate the intermittency of wind and solar, ensuring its AI and cloud infrastructure remains operational even during multi-day periods of low renewable generation.

A New Standard for Green Data Centers

Google’s latest infrastructure project in Minnesota is not just another server farm. It is a blueprint for the future of the 24/7 carbon-free energy grid. While many tech giants struggle to match their massive energy consumption with real-time green power, Google is bypassing the limitations of traditional 4-hour lithium-ion batteries.

The new Pine Island facility will be supported by an Electric Service Agreement with Xcel Energy. This is designed to ensure that the massive energy draw of a modern data center does not drive up costs for residents.

The Billion-Dollar Rust Battery

The centerpiece of this deal is the 300 megawatt iron-air battery system from Form Energy. With a staggering storage capacity of 30 gigawatt hours, it is currently the largest battery project by energy capacity ever announced globally.

Unlike the lithium batteries in your phone, these units operate through a process called reversible rusting.

Discharging: The battery breathes in oxygen, turning iron into rust and releasing electrons.
Charging: An electrical current turns the rust back into iron, releasing oxygen.

This low-cost chemistry allows the battery to discharge power for 100 consecutive hours. This provides a critical buffer when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine.

Powering the AI Economy

To feed the battery and the data center, Google is funding the build-out of a massive renewable energy fleet, including:

1.4 Gigawatts of new wind power.
200 Megawatts of solar power.
50 Million dollar investment into Xcel Energy’s grid capacity programs.

This infrastructure will support Google’s core services while helping Minnesota move toward its goal of a 100 percent carbon-free grid.

Form Energy Path to Public Markets

For Form Energy, this one billion dollar deal represents its most significant commercial milestone. Led by former Tesla executive Mateo Jaramillo, the company is now scaling up operations at its Form Factory 1 in Weirton, West Virginia.

With significant funding raised to date and a new 500 million dollar round currently in progress, the startup is reportedly eyeing an initial public offering as early as next year. This Google partnership effectively validates iron air technology as a viable competitor to fossil fuel power plants.

Source:

Tech Crunch