Dear Kgosientsho David Ramomgopa
An iron-air battery system with a 1-gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity—such as the recent agreement between Ore Energy and Budget Thuis in Europe—is designed to store excess wind and solar energy for 24 to 100 hours and replace fossil-fuel gas backup plants (peaker plants) during multi-day generation gaps.

Key Details of 1 GWh Iron-Air Deployments

• Primary Role: Replaces natural gas or coal-fired backup/peaker plants that normally kick in during multi-day lulls in renewable energy (wind/solar droughts).
• How It Works: Uses a reversible rusting cycle—converting iron pellets and oxygen into iron hydroxide (rust) to discharge electricity, and reversing the process via electric current to charge.
• Duration: Can store and discharge power continuously for up to 100 hours (about 4 days).
• Materials & Safety: Built from abundant iron, water, and air, containing no lithium, cobalt, or scarce rare-earth minerals, and featuring a non-flammable water-based electrolyte.
• Scale & Form: Modular 40-foot shipping containers designed for fixed grid-scale installations rather than electric vehicles or small devices.