OVERSEAS PARTNERSHIP — Ted Wiley, COO of Form Energy, left, and Peter Lynch, CEO of FuturEnergy Ireland, were in Weirton Wednesday following the companies’ announcement of a new partnership which will result in Form Energy’s first international battery deployment. -- Craig Howell

WEIRTON — Irish eyes were smiling over Form Energy this week, as the battery manufacturer announced its first international agreement.

Company officials announced Tuesday – St. Patrick’s Day – the signing of an agreement with FuturEnergy Ireland to deploy a 10-megawatt, 1,000-megawatt-hour iron-air battery system in the northwest of Ireland.

The system, anticipated to begin manufacturing in 2028 and set to go online in 2029, will be built at Form Factory 1 in Weirton.

“It’s the first international project that Form has announced,” explained Ted Wiley, Form COO, during a media event in Weirton on Wednesday. “That, to us, marks the beginning of something we’ve always aimed to do.”

Peter Lynch, CEO of FuturEnergy Ireland, noted his company had been watching Form Energy over the last four to five years, adding it was the honesty and courage of Form which attracted their attention.

“They have a very clear vision,” Lynch said. “They were far and away the best solution.”

Lynch explained Form Energy’s iron-air battery systems will assist to fill a critical gap in Ireland’s power system, providing more independence in the supply of electricity in a region with few native fossil fuel sources for energy.

He noted there are other projects in development, in addition to the Form Energy agreement which will provide several avenues of opportunity for power supply in the country.

“It should act as a gateway,” Lynch said. “It should be the first in a number of projects.”

Ireland’s 2024 Electricity Storage Policy Framework identified long-duration energy storage as key for building a clean and reliable electricity grid by 2030, officials note.

Form Energy’s iron-air battery systems are designed to provide 100 hours of energy support, which, coupled with existing energy generation sources, can relieve local transmission congestion while strengthening Ireland’s energy independence.

It’s a step toward decades of advancement for Ireland, Lynch said, not just for the current decade, but well into the 2030s and beyond.

“This is an enormous vote of confidence in multi-day storage and iron air technology,” Wiley said.

Officials from the two companies were joined Tuesday in Somerville, Mass., by Helen McEntee, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs and trade and minister of defence; Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, and Somerville Mayor Jake Wilson.

“I am delighted to be at this signing ceremony between FuturEnergy Ireland and Form Energy, to mark what is an exciting and important new partnership that will help boost and expand Ireland’s clean energy usage,” McEntee said Tuesday. “Ireland and the United States need to be able to work together to take on today’s challenges, meeting the needs of affordable energy with new technologies. Congratulations to Form and FuturEnergy Ireland on this important achievement.”

The project is among a string of agreements announced since Form Factory 1 began trial production in Weirton in September 2023.

That includes a project revealed in February in partnership with Xcel Energy to support a Google data center in Minnesota.