Contributed ON THEIR WAY – Last year, Form Energy deployed some of its first iron-air battery systems as part of the company's initial pilot agreement. While in operation for a relatively short amount of time, the company already has announced several agreements for the use of its battery systems.

WEIRTON – When Form Energy announced its plans to locate its first full-scale manufacturing facility in Weirton in December 2022, there were some who were skeptical.

Many of those concerns seem to have been put to rest in the days since Form Factory 1 officially opened for production in September 2024, with the company taking and fulfilling orders not just in the United States but now in other countries as well.

Ted Wiley, Form’s president and chief operating officer, highlighted some of the success recently after the company announced one of its latest projects through an agreement with FuturEnergy Ireland to construct a 10-megawatt, 1,000-megawatt-hour iron-air battery system that will be deployed to Ireland in the next few years.

“This is the ninth project Form has announced publicly and the first international project,” Wiley noted of the FuturEnergy project.

That project was followed this week by an agreement with Crusoe, a company that specializes in artificial intelligence infrastructure, including the development of data centers, for the delivery of 12 gigawatt-hours of multi-day energy storage systems beginning in 2027.

It has been a lot of activity in such a relatively short period of time.

Officials with the Massachusetts-based company joined then-Gov. Jim Justice and others from the state just before Christmas 2022 in revealing the plan to construct the facility, now known as Form Factory 1, in Weirton, selecting the community from 500 options spread across 16 states.

A ceremonial groundbreaking, with guests including former U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and former U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, along with investors and local and state officials, was held in May 2023, with many of those attending asked to sign a set of steel beams now on display within the lobby of Form Factory 1.

The first steel in the superstructure of the facility went up in July 2023, less than two months later, with a “topping out” ceremony to mark the raising of the final beam of the initial phase of construction in February 2024.

A grand opening celebration was held in September 2024, providing the first real look at the factory, which represented an investment of $760 million into the community and the state.

Even before it opened, there were announcements of orders placed for Form’s iron-air batteries, and those orders have continued in the 18 months since.

“There has been tremendous demand for the Form battery product,” Wiley said, adding much of the growth can be attributed to the expanding need for power through grids around the world.

In addition to the recently announced projects with FuturEnergy Ireland and Crusoe, Form also has a project in the works with Xcel Energy to provide support for a Google data center in Minnesota.

They are only the latest in a series of projects that began before the plans for Form Factory 1 were even announced.

In May 2020, Form announced an agreement with Minnesota’s Great River Energy for its first commercial deployment through the development of a 1-megawatt, 150-megawatt-hour pilot project. That pilot system was completed and shipped in 2025, with plans for the full project to go online later this year.

Form has another agreement with Xcel for a system in Colorado, according to information on its website, as well as plans to work with the California Energy Commission, Power Up New England for a project in Maine, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Dominion Energy for a project in Virginia and a project with Georgia Power.

Wiley offered his appreciation to the entire Form team for its work in getting the company to where it is so far, as well as to the city of Weirton, the state of West Virginia and the various federal-level officials and representatives who have offered support.

“That’s really encouraging and we couldn’t have done it without the partnership and support,” Wiley said.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com)