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Headline Story: Form’s $1B Google Deal
Iron-air leader Form Energy has signed a major $1 billion deal to support a cleantech-powered Google data center in Pine Island, Minnesota.
- Through the arrangement, electric utility Xcel Energy will install a 300 megawatt / 30 GWh Form battery array to dispatch energy for up to 100 hours straight, 24/7/365.
- The selection followed a rigorous process in which Form demonstrated its capabilities with internal installations that Xcel could examine.
- The data center will run core Google services including Workspace, Search, YouTube and Maps.
More details in Canary Media, TechCrunch, and The Information.
👉 Octet’s Take: “This deployment suggests that LDES is moving from pilot stage to system-critical infrastructure — especially where load growth is concentrated and reliability expectations are non-negotiable” writes Octet’s Emily Dickens on LinkedIn. “Instead of asking, ‘How do we fuel this demand spike?’, we should be asking, ‘How do we scale long-duration storage fast enough to meet it?’”
Adoption, Deals, and Tech
Sunergy Demos Lay Groundwork for Industrial-Scale NiZn
French Zinc battery innovator Sunergy is building a pilot line producing 0.1–0.4 MWh NiZn battery prototypes. Sunergy says the project “paves the way for industrial-scale production of NiZn batteries by 2032.”
- The line is designed for stationary applications and tested at TRL 7 in real demonstrators.
- The project, officially kicked off in February, involves collaboration across Europe and is funded by French entrepreneurship-focused bank Bpifrance.
Read the announcement on LinkedIn.
Massive Vanadium Flow / Lithium-Ion Hybrid Facility Goes Online
Called the world’s largest single-site grid-forming hybrid energy storage power station, a landmark vanadium flow / lithium-ion hybrid energy storage facility has come online in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. The 300 MW/1,200 MWh BESS will serve industrial and residential users in Ordos and western Inner Mongolia. It will also be connected to broader northern China.
The facility was developed by Hunan Corun New Energy Co., Ltd. (CORUN) and a consortium including Zhejiang Xingchen New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (SNE).
Details in ESS News and Vanitec.
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Aqueous Deep Dives
Aqueous Energy <> Bluetooth IoT
Which battery is best for Bluetooth-based temperature loggers and asset trackers? Zinergy – which develops printed Zinc batteries for the Internet of Things – provides answers in a new whitepaper.
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Mark Your Calendars
ICYMI: Upcoming 2026 Aqueous Events
📆 Get a head start on 2026 planning with our Aqueous Energy Events Calendar in our December 29th Aqueous Battery Brief.
Two Chances to Hear Octet
- International Battery Seminar & Exhibit • Mar 23 – 26 / Orlando, Florida, USA
- BCI Convention + Power Mart Expo • May 3 – 6 / Nashville, Tennessee, USA
We’ll see you soon.
Who’s Hiring
Seeking a new role — or know someone who is? Start with the quick links to aqueous firms’ open roles pages and specific roles below.
👩🔬 Open Roles Pages (Multiple Roles)
👨🔬 Specific Openings
- Urban Electric Power: Mechanical Engineer — Battery Cell & Module Development
- Æsir Technologies is looking to fill multiple engineering roles. Interested candidates should send resumes to Æsir’s Employment Page.
Have a specific open position you’d like to highlight? Send us an e-mail.
Octet Case Study: $7.5M in Projected Savings
Read how Octet identified a path to 10% greater round-trip efficiency
by testing 30+ electrolyte additives.