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<p class="MsoNormal">Thanks to Dan for pointing out this article about Form Energy’s plant. This is helpful to give us a benchmark for the relative cost of long-duration storage vs lithium batteries. We may be able to use this in evaluating our results.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;color:black">Daniel M Kammen <kammen@berkeley.edu><br>
<b>Date: </b>Friday, July 7, 2023 at 10:25 AM<br>
<b>To: </b>Kittner, Noah <kittner@email.unc.edu>, Sarah Kurtz <skurtz@ucmerced.edu><br>
<b>Subject: </b>Fwd: Important news: 10MW/1000MWh Iron-air Form energy battery system approved in Minnesota<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>
From: <strong><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Roy Morrison</span></strong> <<a href="mailto:roy.morrison114@yahoo.com">roy.morrison114@yahoo.com</a>><br>
Date: Fri, Jul 7, 2023 at 10:24 AM<br>
Subject: Important news: 10MW/1000MWh Iron-air Form energy battery system approved in Minnesota<br>
To: Roy Morrison (<a href="mailto:roy.morrison114@gmail.com">roy.morrison114@gmail.com</a>) <<a href="mailto:roy@sunpartnerssolar.com">roy@sunpartnerssolar.com</a>><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">This is a100% renewable future unfolding. Iron-air Form Energy flow battery . Long duration (100 hour), cheaper ($20/kWh cost compared to $100/kWh
lithium), long life non-toxic material for all stationary storage.The system modular and scaleable with 50 kw units and therefore suitable for commercial scale systems.Supports Virtual Power Plant networking for utility dispatch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"><a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/minnesota-puc-xcel-form-energy-battery-sherco-solar/685460/" target="_blank">Minnesota PUC approves Xcel’s
plan to install a 10-MW/1,000-MWh Form Energy battery system</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#1D2228">Minnesota PUC approves Xcel’s plan to install a 10-MW/1,000-MWh Form Ene...<o:p></o:p></span></h2>
<p style="margin:0in;line-height:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:#979EA8">The utility company expects the long-duration energy storage project will be operating by the end of 2025. It wi...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#323239;text-transform:uppercase">DIVE BRIEF</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">Minnesota PUC approves Xcel’s plan to install a 10-MW/1,000-MWh Form Energy battery system<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#6E707C">Published July 7, 2023<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;vertical-align:middle"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#0A0A0A"><a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/editors/ehowland/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">Ethan Howland</span></a></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#6E707C">Senior
Reporter</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:#0A0A0A"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif"><img border="0" id="_x0000_i1026" src="https://www.utilitydive.com/imgproxy/A22kQ2X6soUGAlsroDpVxkX6IrPrUCqoUeZbWNdRc_c/g:ce/rs:fill:1200:675:1/bG9jYWw6Ly8vZGl2ZWltYWdlL1BsYW50X1FQXzMwX2Jsa19SMDEuanBn.jpg" alt="A rendering of a Form Energy long-duration battery storage project."><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">A rendering of a Form Energy long-duration energy storage facility. Minnesota regulators on July 6, 2023, approved a Form Energy project to be owned
by an Xcel Energy utility. <i><span style="color:#6E707C">Permission granted by Form Energy</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<h3 style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">Dive Brief:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Minnesota regulators on Thursday <a href="https://mn.my.xcelenergy.com/s/about/newsroom/press-release/xcel-energy-receives-approval-to-build-multi-day-battery-storage-at-sherco-site-MCRWFFJK76DNGM3DT75YDHEQPMSU" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">approved</span></a> a
10-MW/1,000-MWh iron-air battery system to be built by Form Energy for Xcel Energy’s Minnesota utility, Northern States Power, or NSP.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NSP expects the long-duration energy storage pilot project will be operating by the end of 2025 and will be paired with up to 710 MW of solar at the site of a coal-fired
power plant that is being retired.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The utility expects the project will cost residential customers about 30 cents per month over the project’s 10-year expected life span. The Minnesota Public Utilities
Commission imposed a cost cap on the project.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The Form Energy battery system — which discharges and stores electricity by converting iron to rust and back again — is slated to be built near NSP’s 1,879-MW, coal-fired
Sherco power plant in Becker, Minnesota, according to <a href="https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/edockets/searchDocuments.do?method=showPoup&documentId=%7B8043C886-0000-CC18-A0DF-1A2C7EA08FA1%7D&documentTitle=20233-193670-01" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">the
utility’s application</span></a> at the PUC. The utility plans to retire a 682-MW unit at Sherco this year, a 680-MW unit in 2026 and the final 517-MW unit in 2030.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NSP has permission to build 460 MW of solar at the Sherco site and is seeking approval for an <a href="https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/edockets/searchDocuments.do?method=showPoup&documentId=%7B2081ED87-0000-CA2D-8459-859E2E777014%7D&documentTitle=20235-195606-02" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">additional
250 MW</span></a>, with the entire solar facility expected to be operating in 2025. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">With the Form Energy battery system, NSP expects to gain experience integrating renewable energy onto the grid, Ian Dobson, lead assistant general counsel at Xcel, told the
PUC at its meeting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NSP also hopes to better understand the value of energy storage systems with dispatching during renewable energy “droughts,” mitigating transmission congestion, providing
emergency electricity during power outages and reducing peak power costs, the utility said in its application.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The project will support a more just energy transition by building the project in a community directly affected by the shift away from fossil fuel generation, it said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NSP expects the battery system will be eligible for a 10% bonus tax credit on top of the 30% investment tax credit for siting the project in an “energy community,” according
to the application. It may also qualify for a 10% bonus tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act from Form Energy’s commitment to meeting domestic content requirements, the utility said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The cost of the project is confidential, but Dobson said it would add about 30 cents to residential customers’ monthly electric bills over the project’s 10-year life. NSP
expects to know this summer if it will receive a Department of Energy grant for the project, which could reduce the cost to ratepayers, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The PUC imposed a cost cap on the project unless NSP can show cost overruns were prudent and beyond the company’s control. NSP will recover the project’s costs through a
renewable energy rate rider that is included in customer bills.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">During the meeting, PUC Vice-Chair Joseph Sullivan said he was concerned about the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s reductions to the accredited value of renewable
energy and that storage could help solar receive “appropriate credit” for its contributions to the grid.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">NSP expects construction on the pilot project to start in the third quarter next year and for the battery system to be operating by the end of 2025, Dobson said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Looking ahead, NSP sees the need for various types of energy storage, including 4-hour, 10- to 12-hour and multi-day storage, Justin Tomljanovic, Xcel vice president for
corporate development, told the PUC. The utility company will use its experience from the Form Energy project to help craft integrated resource plans, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">However, modeling in resource plans may not fully capture the benefits of energy storage, Steve Rakow, a Minnesota Department of Commerce analyst, said. Long-range modeling
smooths out expected electricity pricing so that it doesn’t include the peaks and valleys when storage would likely be used, such as when prices hit $100/MWh or dips into negative pricing, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Xcel plans to install a similar Form Energy battery system at Public Service of Colorado’s Comanche power plant in Pueblo, Colorado. It is also <a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/ambri-xcel-battery-storage/631005/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">testing
in Colorado</span></a> a 12-MWh liquid metal battery developed by Ambri, Tomljanovic said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">Form Energy, based in Somerville, Massachusetts, broke ground in May on <a href="https://formenergy.com/form-factory-1/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">a factory
in West Virginia</span></a> it expects will be able to make 500 MW of batteries annually. It plans to start producing batteries there next year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">It is also developing projects with <a href="https://formenergy.com/form-energy-announces-pilot-with-great-river-energy-to-enable-the-utilitys-transition-to-an-affordable-reliable-and-renewable-electricity-grid/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">Great
River Energy</span></a>, <a href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/form-energy-announces-partnership-with-georgia-power-to-test-100-hour-iron-/618626/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">Georgia Power</span></a> and a California consortium that includes
Peninsula Clean Energy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The company’s investors include ArcelorMittal, a steel manufacturer, Breakthrough Energy, an investment firm founded by Bill Gates, and Eni Next, the venture capital arm
of Italian energy company Eni.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif">The U.S. grid may need 225 GW to 460 GW of long-duration storage to support power markets for a net zero economy by 2060, representing $330 billion in capital spending, according
to <a href="https://liftoff.energy.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230320-Liftoff-LDES-vPUB.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0A0A0A">a Department of Energy report</span></a>, released in March.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">Roy Morrison
<a href="mailto:roy.morrison114@yahoo.com" target="_blank">roy.morrison114@yahoo.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif">roy@SunPartnersSolar.com<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<a href="http://www.SunPartnersSolar.com" target="_blank">www.SunPartnersSolar.com</a><br>
603-496-4260<br>
P.O. Box 134<br>
Slingerlands, NY 12159<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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