Ore Energy Raises $43 Million to Scale Iron-Air Battery Manufacturing

Ore Energy, an Amsterdam and Delft-based startup, secured $43 million in Series A funding to scale production of its iron-air battery systems according to recent reporting. The financing round was led by investment firms Plural and HV, with participation from existing backer Positron Ventures. The fresh capital lifts the company’s total funding to $61 million and provides the financial backing needed to establish its first dedicated manufacturing facility.

Chemistry and Supply Chain Behind Ore Energy Batteries

Unlike standard lithium-ion setups that typically manage power gaps of a few hours, Ore Energy’s technology targets multi-day renewable shortfalls. The system relies on a reversible oxidation process that charges and discharges using abundant raw materials: iron, water, and air. During charging, electrical energy converts iron oxide into metallic iron. When exposed to oxygen and water during discharge, the iron oxidises again, releasing electricity.

This approach eliminates the need for critical raw materials such as lithium or cobalt. By depending instead on a localized European supply chain, the company aims to avoid the raw material bottlenecks and foreign dependencies that frequently constrain battery manufacturers. Executives assert that the iron-air design delivers a tenfold reduction in energy-capacity cost compared with conventional lithium-ion alternatives for long-duration applications.

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Commercial Pilots and the 1 GWh Budget Thuis Agreement

Founded in 2023 by CEO Aytac Yilmaz, COO Rutil Özdemir, and CSO Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia, the company spun out of research conducted at Delft University of Technology. Field testing has already moved past the laboratory phase. Last year, the startup connected the first known grid-connected iron-air battery system at TU Delft’s Green Village testing ground. It followed that milestone with megawatt-hour scale pilot operations at EDF Lab les Renardières in France, where the system was subjected to varying load profiles and seasonal weather conditions under real-world grid management protocols.

How Community and Environmental Integration Makes Energy Infrastructure More Cost-Effective

Commercial traction has kept pace with technical validation. In June, Ore Energy signed an agreement with Budget Thuis, a Dutch energy and telecommunications supplier, covering up to 1 gigawatt-hour of iron-air storage. Representing the largest iron-air storage agreement in continental Europe, the deal includes a committed first phase of 400 megawatt-hours scheduled for delivery in 2028.

Addressing Renewable Curtailment and AI Data Centre Demands

The startup’s core pitch addresses a persistent structural flaw in European energy grids: the curtailment of surplus wind and solar generation during peak production periods. Because renewable output often fails to match demand across multi-day stretches of calm or cloudy weather, excess power is routinely wasted. Long-duration storage seeks to capture that surplus and release it whenever and wherever needed.

At the same time, the company is positioning its technology as essential infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom. Data centres are driving a sharp surge in electricity consumption. According to data cited by Ore Energy from the International Energy Agency, worldwide data-centre electricity consumption is forecast to more than double to approximately 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, creating unpredictable power swings that demand firm, baseload renewable power.

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Ian Hogarth, partner at Plural, stated that long-duration energy storage is one of the biggest unsolved challenges in the energy transition, noting that unlocking it will transform how industry is powered, AI data centres are scaled, and economic growth is driven. He added that Aytac, Rutil, and the team have combined world-class science with exceptional execution to make iron-air batteries commercially viable while providing a critical technology not just for Europe but as an important export technology too, and concluded that by extracting so much more energy from every unit of wind already available, Ore Energy has the potential to become one of the world’s most important energy companies.

With its fresh capital injection, Ore Energy plans to recruit across its manufacturing, commercial, and operational teams while constructing its first factory. The firm has set a target to reach gigawatt-hour scale production by 2028, with a long-term ambition of establishing iron-air as the standard grid infrastructure for long-duration storage by 2035.