MANY MINDEDCATL adds 2 GWh sodium-ion storage deal in eastern Europe
CATL signed a 2 GWh Tener Sodium energy storage agreement with the eastern European renewable company Solarpro. The two plan to deploy central and eastern Europe's first large-scale sodium-ion storage project this year. It is CATL's second sodium-ion storage order in Europe within a month; the prior week it signed a memorandum with Alfen NV to deploy 5 GWh of sodium-ion storage in western Europe starting 2027.
CATL says the Tener Sodium system has a cycle life of up to 15,000 cycles, an operating life of 25 to 30 years, and retains 92% of capacity at minus 20 degrees Celsius. The company unveiled the system on June 22 with rated capacity over 30 MWh for 1-to-8-hour applications. It has invested 5 billion yuan (about $736 million) to build 40 GWh of sodium-ion production capacity in Fujian province. The CATL-Solarpro partnership began in 2024 with a 150 MWh system in Bulgaria.
Sodium is far more abundant and geographically spread than lithium, so batteries built from it are less exposed to constrained supply chains and price spikes. Cheaper, mineral-abundant storage makes it easier to hold renewable power for when it is needed, which is central to making clean energy both reliable and affordable — a broad benefit to the shared energy commons.
Many of the figures here are projections: initial China deliveries are slated for September, reaching 1 GWh by end of 2026, with global commercial deliveries from mid-next year. CATL's chairman has forecast sodium-ion could take 30-40% of the battery market, but that is a forecast, not a result.
Source: CnEVPost