The archive · Climate & Energy · Strategic decision · 2023–2026
Ore Energy bets rust-and-air batteries cover Europe's multi-day renewable gaps
Amsterdam's Ore Energy builds iron-air batteries storing power for 24–100 hours; a $43M Series A and a 1 GWh Budget Thuis deal back its days-long-storage bet.
Ore Energy
What the business is
Ore Energy builds grid-scale iron-air batteries: 40-foot containers that store electricity for up to 100 hours by rusting and de-rusting iron electrodes, sold to utilities and energy suppliers to cover multi-day gaps in wind and solar output.
Starting capital：$43M Series A led by Plural and HV with participation from Positron, announced August 2026; total raised above $61M.
How it started
Ore Energy was founded in 2023 by Aytaç Yilmaz, Rutil Özdemir and Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia, spinning out of TU Delft research. The founding observation was structural: lithium-ion storage shifts solar by a few hours, but wind-heavy European grids face multi-day lulls in renewable output, and the gas plants that fill those gaps are exactly the cost and emissions problem grids wanted to escape. As Yilmaz put it, short-duration batteries cannot fix this - they shift solar by hours, while wind grids need storage that works across days.
What happened
Ore de-risked in real utility settings before chasing volume: a grid-connected iron-air installation in Delft validated integration with European distribution infrastructure, then a pilot at EDF in France ran between August and November 2025, storing and discharging energy for up to four days and billed as Europe's first grid-connected iron-air long-duration storage pilot. In June 2026 Ore signed a 1 GWh agreement with Budget Thuis (part of Nuts Groep, with over one million customers) - the largest iron-air offtake in continental Europe and the first with a European energy supplier - starting with a committed 400 MWh first phase planned for 2028. The August 2026 Series A is funding Ore's first manufacturing facility on the path to GWh-scale production by 2028.
How it ended up
Still live and scaling as of 2026-09-02: total funding above $61M, a first commercial 1 GWh contract with Budget Thuis, and a first factory underway with GWh-scale manufacturing targeted for 2028; no revenue figures have been disclosed.
Background
Ore Energy is an Amsterdam-based company founded in 2023 by Aytaç Yilmaz, Rutil Özdemir and Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia, building on Delft University of Technology research into iron-air batteries. Its product is grid-scale, containerised long-duration storage: 40-foot modules that store electricity for 24-100 hours by rusting iron electrodes on discharge and de-rusting them on charge, using only iron, water and air - no lithium or cobalt - and a fully European supply chain.
The bet was that wind-heavy European grids need storage measured in days, not hours: lithium-ion shifts solar by a few hours but cannot cost-effectively cover multi-day lulls in renewable generation, when grids fall back on gas-fired power. Ore validated the technology in the field first - a grid-connected installation in Delft, then a pilot at EDF in France between August and November 2025 that Ore called Europe's first grid-connected iron-air long-duration storage pilot.
On 22 June 2026 Ore signed a 1 GWh iron-air storage agreement with Dutch energy supplier Budget Thuis, described as the largest iron-air offtake in continental Europe and the first with a European energy supplier, beginning with a committed 400 MWh phase planned for 2028. On 4 August 2026 it announced a $43M Series A led by Plural and HV with participation from Positron, bringing total funding above $61M to build its first manufacturing facility and move toward GWh-scale production by 2028.
What has to be true
- The customer problem is structural: as wind and solar penetration rises, multi-day lulls recur and short-duration batteries cannot cover them economically, so the market grows with renewables.
- The chemistry picks cheap, abundant materials - iron, water and air - so Ore's cost floor depends on supply chains Europe controls rather than lithium, cobalt or leading-edge components.
- Ore de-risked with field evidence before scaling: Delft and EDF grid-connected pilots preceded the commercial offtake, the kind of proof a startup needs to win a 1 GWh commitment from a utility.
- The round funds a factory, not another pilot: with clean power already curtailed at scale and GWh-scale manufacturing targeted for 2028, Series A moved Ore from chemistry validation toward volume.
What can be applied
The bet only pays when the problem is structural: multi-day renewable gaps are guaranteed to grow, and iron-air's cost floor sits on iron, water and air, not scarce materials.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-02 Ore Energy is live and scaling: total funding above $61M after the August 2026 Series A led by Plural and HV; a 1 GWh commercial agreement with Dutch supplier Budget Thuis (400 MWh first phase planned for 2028); and its first manufacturing facility underway with GWh-scale production targeted for 2028. The open risk is economic rather than technical: multi-day batteries cycle rarely, so the cost per cycle must beat the gas plants they replace, and competing long-duration technologies are racing for the same market.
Sources
- Europe is betting big on a battery that runs for four days
- Ore Energy and Budget Thuis to Deploy 1 GWh of Multi-Day Iron-Air Energy Storage in a First for European Energy Suppliers
- Ore Energy Raises €37.3 Mn to Scale Iron-Air Batteries for Long-Duration Energy Storage
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