Amsterdam-based Ore Energy has signed the largest iron-air storage deal on continental Europe to date: up to 1 gigawatt-hour of multi-day energy storage for Dutch utility Budget Thuis. The agreement, announced this month, kicks off with a committed 400 MWh first phase due in 2028 and marks the first iron-air contract signed with a European energy supplier.
Multi-Day Storage, From Rust
Ore Energy's batteries store electricity by reversing the rusting reaction: during discharge, the cells breathe in air and convert metallic iron to rust; during charging, they exhale the oxygen and reduce the rust back to iron. The chemistry uses only iron, water, and air — no lithium, cobalt, or nickel — and is engineered to hold energy for 24 to 100 hours, targeting the multi-day durations that lithium-ion cannot cost-effectively serve.
The systems are modular and containerised, which is what Ore says lets it undercut lithium on both capex and safety: the cells are non-flammable and fully recyclable.
Why Budget Thuis Went Long
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"Delivering affordable, reliable energy to our customers is at the core of what we do, and multi-day storage gives us a way to store clean electricity when it is abundant and deliver it when it is most valuable," said Annemarie Buitelaar, Budget Thuis CEO. The utility is betting long-duration iron-air will let it firm renewable output at grid scale without leaning on gas peakers during Dutch dunkelflaute weeks.
Ore Energy's Path To The Grid
Ore was spun out of TU Delft in 2022 and is currently one of only two commercial iron-air players globally, alongside US-based Form Energy. It has already run a 100-hour iron-air pilot at EDF's lab in France. The Budget Thuis deal, together with Elestor's 20 MW hydrogen-iron flow battery at Windpark Zeewolde, cements the Netherlands as Europe's most active proving ground for multi-day storage chemistries.
How It Slots Into The Broader Market
Long-duration storage is quietly becoming the missing piece of Europe's renewables build-out. Iron-air complements the sodium-ion push from Peak Energy's Sacramento gigafactory and the flow-battery deployments now scaling for mining and utility loads — each targeting a different point on the duration-versus-cost curve rather than fighting head-on with lithium-ion.
Ore Energy says it will connect its first batteries to the grid next year, scale to large-format production in 2027, and be positioned to help fully decarbonise the Dutch grid by 2030.
Reporting based on coverage from Ore Energy, Energy-Storage.News, and Silicon Canals.