FuturEnergy Ireland has submitted a planning application to Donegal County Council for its first battery storage project, Ballynahone Energy Storage. The proposed facility will use cutting-edge iron-air battery technology, marking a first for Europe. The 10MW project will store 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of energy, more than half the capacity of Ireland's Turlough Hill power station. Future developments could see storage expand up to 8 GWh.
The iron-air technology works through a reversible rusting process. When discharging, the battery absorbs oxygen and converts iron to rust. During charging, the rust is reversed back to iron, releasing oxygen. This process allows the battery to discharge energy for up to 100 hours when fully charged.
This technology is seen as a potential gamechanger, capable of storing surplus renewable energy during periods of high generation and returning it to the grid when needed, such as during extreme weather, outages, or low renewable output. It could also alleviate grid congestion and reduce the need for additional overhead power lines.
Paul Blount, portfolio director at FuturEnergy Ireland, emphasized the importance of this innovation in meeting Ireland's ambitious decarbonization targets. “We need new technologies with the ability to time-shift very large energy volumes at low cost if we are to fully decarbonize our power system in a manner that is affordable for consumers,” Blount stated.
Form Energy, a U.S.-based company, is behind the iron-air technology selected through a rigorous procurement process.
