Form Energy Inc., Somerville, MA, US, a company developing ultra-low-cost, long-duration energy storage for the grid, adds Charlotte Beard and Zachary Judkins to the company’s executive team as VP of Finance and VP of System Engineering, respectively. Most recently, Beard served as VP of Finance at Tile, and was previously a finance leader at Tesla and Apple. Judkins joins Form Energy after 12+ years at SunPower Corporation, most recently as VP of Products.
As Director of Energy Products Finance at Tesla, Beard managed operational planning activities across procurement, manufacturing and deployment, in addition to supporting engineering design and development efforts. As Senior Manager of Operations Finance at Apple, Beard’s experience with strategic supply chain analyses and delivery on process improvements will bring excellent insight to Form Energy’s supply chain initiatives. Most recently, Beard served as VP of Finance at Tile, leading due diligence, fundraising and restructuring of short-term debt. “Charlotte brings a great set of experiences and hard-won perspective to Form Energy,” said Mateo Jaramillo, CEO of Form Energy, “and we couldn’t be happier to have her leading the finance function for us.”
“Long-duration, system-level energy storage will be critical to unlocking the full potential of resources like wind and solar,” said Beard. “Form Energy is transforming the grid with its technology and its incredible team, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I look forward to combining my passion for energy storage with my 20+ years of Finance experience in this unique opportunity to serve.”
Judkins joins Form Energy as a seasoned technology executive with more than 12 years experience pioneering disruptive technologies that revolutionized the renewable energy industry. As VP of Product at SunPower Corporation, Judkins defined the product vision and strategy for the company’s innovative solar plus energy storage solution. “Zac’s wealth of experience leading technical teams and bringing productized system solutions to market from conception to development and scale up will greatly advance Form Energy’s path to commercialization,” said Jaramillo. “I fully expect he will take Form Energy’s systems to the next level.”
“With early coal retirements accelerating, natural gas becoming increasingly untenable, and renewable energy prices continuing to fall, the need for long duration energy storage has never been more clear,” said Judkins. “Form has identified the right technology and the right team to deliver on this critical enabler of deeply decarbonized grids. I am honored to be a part of this team and excited to bring my experience to Form.”
Beard and Judkins join Form Energy as the company announces its first commercial deployment of its proprietary long-duration energy storage system with Minnesota-based utility Great River Energy. The project will be a 1-MW, grid-connected storage system capable of delivering its rated power continuously for 150 hours, far longer than the two to four hour usage period common among lithium-ion batteries being deployed at utility-scale today. This duration allows for a fundamentally new reliability function to be provided to the grid from storage, one historically only available from thermal generation resources. The 1MW / 150MWh project will be located in Cambridge, MN.