Ore Energy Raises $43 Million to Unlock Renewable Base-Load Power for the AI Era

As global demand for electricity from AI, industry, and the energy transition continues to rise, Ore Energy Ore raised $43 million in a Series A funding round led by Plural and HV to scale up its iron-air battery technology. Designed to store renewable electricity for up to 100 hours, Ore’s batteries could solve one of the biggest barriers to the energy transition: affordable, long-duration energy storage. With this funding, the company’s total funding raised now exceeds $61 million.

Ore Energy, founded by Aytaç Yilmaz (CEO), Rutil Özdemir (COO) and Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia (CSO) generates energy through the oxidation and reduction of iron electrodes. The batteries are made from abundant, inexpensive materials—iron, water, and air—and can be produced through an entirely European supply chain, without relying on expensive imported critical raw materials such as lithium or cobalt. The fully scalable, modular design delivers a plug-and-play storage system at a cost per unit of energy capacity that is 10 times lower than that of lithium-ion for long-duration storage, making renewable electricity affordable and available on demand.

Solving the Challenge of Energy Storage

Global electricity demand from data centers is expected to more than double to approximately 945 TWh by 2030, with AI-optimized data centers estimated to more than quadruple during the same period. AI training and inference cause large, rapid fluctuations in electricity demand, making storage crucial for a reliable power supply. Wind and solar are now the Cheapest sources of new electricity generation, but their output is inherently variable: generation exceeds grid capacity under favorable conditions and falls short during calm or winter periods, with no adequate way to store the surplus for later use.

This mismatch between generation and demand is already costing Europe money. Since 2011, the United Kingdom has paid nearly 6 billion pounds ($8 billion) to curtail renewable power generation. Without investments in grid infrastructure, wasted wind energy alone is expected to cost the UK 8 billion pounds ($10.7 billion) per year by 2030. Across Europe, annually approximately 72 TWh of renewable electricity wasted due to grid congestion, which, at current wholesale electricity prices, nearly 7 billion euros (8 billion dollars). The pressure is mounting: European electricity demand from data centers is expected to increase by Increase by 45 TWh by 2030, just as the continent needs to accelerate its industrial and energy transitions.

Ore’s iron-air batteries solve this challenge by storing renewable electricity for up to 100 hours before feeding it back into the grid when demand requires it. Installed alongside wind farms, the batteries reduce curtailment—the waste of renewable energy because the grid cannot absorb it—make better use of existing grid infrastructure, and provide the steady, controllable power needed around the clock to replace natural gas.

Ore Energy has already signed a 1 GWh agreement with Budget at Home, a pioneering Dutch energy and telecommunications provider, while pilot projects with the French utility company EDF have demonstrated how the technology performs in real-world utility environments.

Powering the New Industrial Century

The new funding round, in which Positron Ventures also participated, will enable Ore to establish its first production facility, in anticipation of its goal to produce on a gigawatt-hour scale by 2028. The facility will validate production at scale, supported by team expansion in the areas of manufacturing, sales, and operations. By 2035, Ore Energy aims to make iron-air the standard grid infrastructure for long-duration energy storage and to power the new industrial century with reliable, renewable baseload electricity.

Aytaç Yilmaz, co-founder and CEO of Ore Energy, said: “Expensive energy is the biggest barrier to growth, something European companies and policymakers know all too well. Affordable, renewable baseload power is the foundation for the next generation of manufacturing, AI infrastructure, and industrial growth worldwide. Ore Energy’s long-duration storage is an essential part of that future. This funding will help us build our first production facility and put us on the path to gigawatt-hour-scale production, ensuring that renewable electricity is available anytime, anywhere.”

Ian Hogarth, a partner at Plural, said: “Long-duration energy storage is one of the biggest unresolved challenges of the energy transition, and unlocking it will transform how we power industry, scale up AI data centers, and drive economic growth. Aytaç, Rutil, and the team have combined world-class science with exceptional execution to make iron-air batteries commercially viable, thereby delivering a crucial technology—not only for Europe but also as a key export technology. By getting so much more out of every unit of wind power we already have, Ore Energy has the potential to become one of the world’s leading energy companies.’

Maxi Pethö-Schramm, a principal at HV, said: “If we want to meet the future energy demand of AI data centers while also providing European industry with affordable, reliable baseload power, we need long-duration storage. Only then will Europe have the resources to compete in the complex, energy-intensive sectors that will shape the continent’s future. Ore has developed a practical, scalable solution that combines groundbreaking technology with a clear path to production at scale, and we are delighted to support a team with the ambition to bring this critical infrastructure to market.”