Crusoe Energy Inks Major Energy Storage Deals to Power AI Data Center Expansion

Crusoe Energy Inks Major Energy Storage Deals to Power AI Data Center Expansion March 25, 2026 As the demand for artificial intelligence computing surges, securing reliable and scalable power has become the defining challenge for the data center industry. Crusoe Energy Systems, a developer focused on energy-efficient AI infrastructure, has announced two strategic agreements with leading energy storage firms, Redwood Materials and Form Energy, to address this critical bottleneck and support its rapid buildout of AI data centers. The company has significantly expanded its existing partnership with battery specialist Redwood Materials. This expansion builds on the successful deployment of a 12-megawatt, 63-megawatt-hour microgrid system at a Crusoe Spark modular data center site, which launched in June 2025. That system, combining solar power with repurposed electric vehicle batteries, achieved 99.2 percent operational availability over seven months of continuous operation. The success has given Crusoe the confidence to scale the deployment from the initial four Crusoe Spark units to 24, increasing the associated compute capacity nearly sevenfold while expanding the power collaboration to 20 megawatts. JB Straubel, founder and CEO of Redwood Materials, stated, “Achieving 99.2 percent uptime validated our approach and gave us the confidence to expand compute capacity nearly sevenfold on the same energy infrastructure. Together with Crusoe, we’re demonstrating a faster, more flexible, and lower-cost way to build and power AI infrastructure.” Cully Cavness, co-founder and president of Crusoe, added that this expansion proves “the ‘AI factory’ of the future can be quickly scaled through the convergence of innovative energy solutions and modular infrastructure deployment.” In a separate but concurrent move, Crusoe has secured a massive, long-duration energy storage agreement with Form Energy. The deal reserves up to 12 gigawatt-hours of Form's multi-day iron-air battery systems, with deployments scheduled to begin in 2027. Form Energy's technology, which can deliver over 100 hours of storage and mitigates thermal runaway risks associated with lithium-ion batteries, is seen as a key solution for providing firm, around-the-clock power for energy-intensive AI workloads. Mateo Jaramillo, co-founder and CEO of Form Energy, said the partnership “demonstrates how multi-day energy storage can unlock new capacity for data centers while strengthening domestic manufacturing.” The batteries will be produced at Form's factory in Weirton, West Virginia; the company reports having over 65 gigawatt-hours of commercial projects in its pipeline, many from the data center sector. For Crusoe, this agreement supports its “Bring Your Own Capacity” model, where power infrastructure is developed in tandem with data centers to accelerate market entry. Cavness emphasized that “the future of AI depends on access to abundant, reliable power delivered at speed,” and this deal establishes a new model for securing energy infrastructure at scale. These agreements signal a strategic shift in how AI data center operators are approaching power procurement. By directly partnering with storage technology providers at an unprecedented scale, Crusoe is pioneering a vertically-integrated path to ensure power resilience and scalability, potentially setting a new industry standard for deploying AI infrastructure in power-constrained markets. Source: datacenterdynamics