Long-duration energy storage startup Ore Energy has landed what it says is the largest iron-air battery deal in continental Europe so far.
The Netherlands-based company announced an agreement with Dutch energy supplier Budget Thuis to deploy 1 gigawatt-hour (GWh) of iron-air energy storage. The deal starts with a committed 400-megawatt-hour (MWh) first phase that Ore Energy plans to deliver in 2028.
The project is notable not only for its size but also because it’s the first iron-air storage agreement with a European energy supplier. As countries add more wind and solar power, utilities are looking for ways to store renewable energy for longer periods when weather conditions don’t cooperate.
Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which are typically designed to deliver energy over a few hours, Ore Energy’s iron-air batteries can store electricity for up to 100 hours. The technology uses iron, water, and air and is designed to help fill multi-day gaps in renewable energy generation. Modular 40-foot containers are used, which can be daisy-chained to scale capacity.
Iron-air batteries aren’t perfect. They’re bulkier and less efficient than lithium-ion batteries, so they lose more energy along the way. But for a grid-scale system that’s designed to store cheap wind and solar power for days at a time, size matters a lot less than cost. That’s where iron-air’s simple, inexpensive materials could give it an edge.
For Budget Thuis, the goal is to store excess wind power when it’s plentiful and release it back to the grid during periods when renewable generation drops and electricity prices rise.
Once installed, the system will be connected to the Dutch electricity grid using Ore Energy’s containerized battery design. The company says its batteries can be configured for storage durations ranging from 24 to 100 hours. Because the technology only uses iron, water, and air, Ore Energy says it can rely on a European supply chain and avoid many of the critical minerals used in conventional batteries.
“European grids are already curtailing clean power at scale, wasting electricity that costs billions to generate, while we stay dependent on fossil fuels to cover the gaps,” said Ore Energy cofounder and CEO Aytaç Yilmaz. “Short-duration batteries alone can’t fix this. They shift solar by a few hours, but wind-heavy European grids need storage that works across days, not hours.”
Yilmaz said the Budget Thuis project marks the next step in commercializing the company’s technology after earlier pilot projects.
Budget Thuis CEO Annemarie Buitelaar said, “For us, this is about reducing exposure to volatile fossil fuel prices while giving customers access to cleaner and more predictable electricity over time. Ore Energy has demonstrated the technology and has the expertise to deploy it, which is why we are committing to 1 GWh across our portfolio, starting with a 400 MWh first phase.”
The agreement follows two earlier grid-connected deployments from Ore Energy. In February, the company announced the completion of a pilot project with EDF in France, which it described as Europe’s first grid-connected iron-air long-duration storage pilot. Conducted between August and November 2025, the project demonstrated up to four days of energy storage under real-world utility conditions.
Ore Energy had previously deployed a grid-connected iron-air installation in Delft, the Netherlands, to test how the technology integrates with existing European grid infrastructure.
If projects like this scale successfully, they could help ensure uninterrupted renewable power, regardless of weather conditions.
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