China’s Sodium-Ion Battery Tech Is An Alternative To Lithium

China's first large-scale sodium-ion battery energy storage station in Nanning, Guangxi. It boasts an initial capacity of 10 MWh, and will reach 100 MWh when fully developed.

Revealed earlier this month, China's first large-scale sodium-ion battery energy storage station in Nanning, Guangxi, has an initial storage capacity of 10 MWh and is expected to reach 100 MWh when fully developed. 

This plant might significantly impact the clean energy sector because this new tech is being widely tipped as a viable substitute for lithium batteries, which depend on resources. The project could release 73,000 MWh of renewable energy, meeting the demands of 35,000 households and reducing 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

The energy conversion efficiency of the sodium-ion battery energy storage system is over 92%, higher than the current common lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. As the world transitions towards cleaner energy sources like wind and solar, energy storage systems can enhance the flexibility and reliability of power grids and help in scaling up renewable energy. 

Examples of current lithium-ion type batteries used in EVs. Sodium-ion battery tech could stand as a viable alternative against which.

Global battery heavyweights, such as Japan's Panasonic and Tesla supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology, have been investigating the usage of sodium-ion batteries for a variety of uses recently, from electrical grid storage to the powering of electric vehicles. 

According to Chen Man, a senior engineer at China Southern Power Grid, the cost of sodium-ion battery energy storage can be lowered by 20% to 30% once it reaches the large-scale development stage.

China's installed capacity of new-type energy storage systems, such as electrochemical energy storage and compressed air, reached 77,680 MWh, or 35.3 gigawatts, as of end-March, an increase of over 21% from a year ago. 

Sodium-ion battery tech is viable enough to convice Chinese automaker JAC to produce the world's first EV, the Yiwei (right), using said tech.

Lithium-ion battery energy storage accounted for more than 95% of the capacity, with other emerging technologies accounting for the rest. 

Sodium-ion batteries are seen as a promising alternative to resource-dependent lithium-ion batteries due to their abundance of natural resources, low costs, better performance at low temperatures, and faster charging rates. KR

Source: SCMP