July 12, 2024: The first phase of China’s state-owned Datang Group’s new energy storage power station has been connected to the grid in Qianjiang, Hubei Provence, making it the world’s largest operating sodium-ion battery storage system.
The supplier of the batteries, HiNa Battery, announced on June 30 that its demonstration project was completed and had been connected to the grid with a production scale of 50MW/100MWh.
The sodium ion cells used in the project were provided by Sino-Science Sodium and the project marks a new stage in the commercial operation of sodium ion battery energy storage, the company said.
Sodium ion batteries are cheap, recyclable, environmentally friendly, safe and are already showing impressive increases in power. CATL, the world’s largest lithium cell manufacturer, has been exploring the chemistry for a decade and has had an operating line working on their manufacture since 2021.
Despite their lower power density — $160Wh/kg compared to LFP of $200Wh/kg — in April 2023 Chery Automobile fitted CATL batteries in a fleet of its cars. The Qianjiang facility could prove to be a watershed in sodium ion deployment.
Developers are talking up the batteries to the extent of saying that their next iteration will have a density of $200Wh/kg. Manufacturing techniques are similar to that of lithium batteries but cheaper — by around $20/kWh and supply chain problems are far less problematic.
All the major lead and lithium battery manufacturers are exploring the technology. Clarios, for example, teamed up with Natron Energy two years ago to formulate a manufacturing process for them. This January Clarios teamed up with Altris, a Swedish sodium ion cathode and cell developer.
The Qianjiang power station, which consists of 42 battery energy storage containers and 21 sets of boost converters, uses 185Ah large-capacity sodium-ion batteries supplied by China’s HiNa battery technology and is equipped with a 110kV transformer station.
According to the Datang Group, the project team has overcome many difficulties to bring the Qianjiang project to fruition as China seeks to diversify away from lithium.
Compared to lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries are seen as having richer raw material reserves, lower costs, and better performance at low temperatures.
The next issue of Batteries International will feature a cover story on the growing role of sodium ion batteries in the energy storage business.
