Google announced on February 24, 2026, the construction of its first data center in Minnesota, powered by 1.9 gigawatts of clean energy, including a 300 MW iron-air battery signed by Form Energy, capable of storing 30 gigawatt-hours over 100 consecutive hours. This project relies on a radically different storage technology from lithium-ion and sets a new standard for large-scale digital infrastructure power.
An energy hunger driven by AI
The growth of artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming the electrical needs of tech giants. Google, like Microsoft or Amazon, must ensure continuous and decarbonized power for its data centers, whose computing power is constantly increasing. The site in Pine Island, located about an hour southeast of Minneapolis, will be the group's first data center in the state of Minnesota.
To meet this demand, Google is partnering with energy operator Xcel Energy to build 1.4 gigawatts of wind capacity and 200 megawatts of solar capacity, according to the company's official press release. These two renewable sources are, however, intermittent by nature: the wind stops, night falls. This is precisely where Form Energy's iron-air battery comes in, designed to "close" the production curve and ensure a stable supply over several days.
The iron-air battery, a counter-current chemistry
Form Energy has developed a storage technology that works on a principle as simple as it is unexpected: rust. When air passes over iron pellets inside the battery, the iron oxidizes and releases electricity. To recharge the system, an electric current reverses the process by deoxidizing the iron, according to the official description published by Form Energy. This cycle of rusting and un-rusting thus transforms excess renewable energy into a reserve available for up to 100 consecutive hours.
This energy efficiency remains limited: an iron-air battery returns only 50 to 70% of the energy used to charge it, compared to over 90% for lithium-ion. However, Form Energy claims a storage cost of only 20 dollars per kilowatt-hour, which represents at least three times less than current lithium-ion solutions. At 30 gigawatt-hours of total capacity, the planned installation in Minnesota would become the world's largest battery by storage capacity.
An innovative pricing mechanism
The agreement between Google and Xcel Energy introduces a rate structure in Minnesota that the two partners call the "clean transition tariff" or "clean energy accelerator charge." In concrete terms, Google commits to paying a premium on the electricity consumed to prevent the financial risk associated with technologies that are still young, such as iron-air batteries, from being borne by ordinary households. This approach protects public regulators, who have a legal obligation to favor the least expensive electricity sources.
Google had already experimented with this tariff model in Nevada, in partnership with the enhanced geothermal startup Fervo, according to TechCrunch. The extension of this mechanism to Minnesota marks a further step in the group's strategy: to make clean energy technologies commercially viable by assuming part of the risk itself, rather than waiting for the market to fully mature.
Form Energy, a startup at the center of the game
Founded in 2017, Form Energy has raised 1.4 billion dollars to date, including a $405 million Series F round closed in October 2024 with investors such as GE Vernova and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, according to PitchBook data. Its manufacturing plant is located in West Virginia, with a target capacity of 500 megawatts per year by 2028. "After seven years of R&D, product engineering, testing, and validation, our iron-air battery system is ready for mass production and commercial deployment," said Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy, according to ESS News.
The startup has already signed deployment agreements with several American utilities. Its first commercial project, a 1.5 megawatt, 150 megawatt-hour installation developed with the cooperative Great River Energy, is currently being installed in Minnesota. Other projects are planned in Georgia with Georgia Power (15 MW), in Maine (85 MW / 8.5 GWh, partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy), and in several other states, according to Utility Dive.
A global race to decarbonize data centers
Google is not alone in multiplying large-scale energy agreements. TotalEnergies signed two power purchase agreements (PPAs) in February 2026 to supply 1 gigawatt of solar capacity to Google's data centers in Texas, representing 28 terawatt-hours over 15 years. Microsoft, for its part, has entered into a partnership with Brookfield to deploy 10.5 gigawatts of renewable capacity, according to Zenon NGO. The competition to secure clean, reliable, and abundant energy has become one of the major strategic priorities of the global technology industry.
The Minnesota project illustrates a profound evolution: digital giants are no longer content with simply buying green certificates to offset their emissions. They are now co-building the energy infrastructure itself, financing experimental technologies like long-duration storage iron-air to transform the promise of renewable energy into an operational reality 24 hours a day.
The Google-Form Energy-Xcel Energy agreement represents much more than a simple supply contract. It industrially validates a breakthrough technology, establishes a reproducible economic model for the energy transition of data centers, and places Minnesota at the heart of a revolution that could redefine the rules of energy storage on a global scale. For energy players and tech observers alike, this type of partnership foreshadows the next wave of massive investments in digital energy infrastructure, which will be closely watched in the coming months.
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