343
Peak Energy just shipped the US's first grid-scale sodium-ion battery (electrek.co)
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
38 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.bestiver.se/post/528970

Comments

top 38 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 131 points 4 days ago

This is big! Grid scale Sodium Ion battery technology is (on paper) the best candidate for cheap large scale electricity storage. The fact that this company is working on 9 pilot deployments mean that this will likely produce the real world results that the paper exercises promise.

There are SO MANY advantages of Sodium Ion battery tech for grid storage over everything else we've used so far (nearly all Lithium based).

Sodium Ion batteries:

  • don't have as intense thermal management needs Lithium chemistries
  • don't have the massive negative environmental impact for their source materials (because its a part of regular old table/sea salt)
  • doesn't have the massive swings in capacity when operated in extreme hot or cold temperatures. Sodium Ion doesn't care.

The only downsides to Sodium Ion is that the batteries are physically larger for the same amount of energy stored (which isn't a problem for stationary storage), and the charging/discharging curves are not as linear as other chemistries (which again, isn't an issue because these are purpose built applications where the curves can easily be managed by battery management systems).

[-] [email protected] 76 points 4 days ago

I would happily dedicate a corner of my garage for a big sodium ion battery.

Also, fun fact they can charge and discharge faster than lithium ion. Also, their chemistry doesn't lead to spontaneous combustion. Perfect for a house backup.

[-] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

I think it's the fire thing that is really their killer feature. So to speak.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

What about the environmental impact of degraded sodium ion batteries?

I'm not going to take sodium mining into account, as there are many ways that it can be extracted, with probably minimal impact, like salt evaporation ponds. I assume it's less destructive than building a hydro dam.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 4 days ago

Can we make them from desalination plants, in part? Or no? I don't know the science for it.

[-] [email protected] 29 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Yeah, the brine is where various useful ions can be further extracted from. https://news.mit.edu/2019/brine-desalianation-waste-sodium-hydroxide-0213

[-] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It's both amazing and hilarious that our sodium battery production is similar to modded Minecraft logic.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Well, not too surprising, modded Minecraft chemistry is modeled after real life after all!

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Quite forward thinking of the Mekanism devs, then.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

I love this too, I just hope they don't use too much Phosphorous, because those reserves are limited too, maybe there are alternative designs once this gets going.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

I'm really excited about na-ion, if commercial BMS circuitry was available I would already have some for a few home automation and sensing projects because of their low temp performance alone. But I'll have to spin up a custom implementation with an arduino or something and I don't have that kind of skills lol.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

everything else we've used so far (nearly all Lithium based).

We have used water before lithium, and it isn't bad at all.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 4 days ago

We have used water before lithium, and it isn’t bad at all.

Not so great in a flat dry desert though. Pump storage is great when there is lots of water and a naturally occurring elevation, but there's lots of places on Earth that don't have that, but do have energy to store.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

Pumped hydro?

[-] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago

Also very good, but geographically limited.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago

And very destructive for the local environment

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Not sure why you're getting down voted, as you're sadly correct here

Still better then many alternatives, but it's not as environmental friendly as it's advertised

[-] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Would container ships be a good application? Or too heavy/large?

[-] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

I wonder which is saltier, oil companies or the batteries.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 4 days ago

That much salt is not going to be good for blood pressure.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago

New warning label unlocked: Do not eat the Batteries.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago

You're not supposed to eat the electricity

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

First off, you're not my mother.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

Cow lick with kick

[-] [email protected] 15 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

It would be nice to see a price/GWh of this (along with running costs, it says they save 1 Million per GWh, how much were the running costs before!?), but any improvement in battery tech is definitely a good thing.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Also the size of the thing and what happens to batteries after they die.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

But why US? Can't store fracking oil in there.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Finally something the EU can invest those 600 billion in. Or buy it, like lots of EU startups were by FAANG companies years ago. Tramp says it's dead tech, so it's ok.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

I honestly dont care who develops these kind of technologies, because it will spread.

The impact of these products are too important.

[-] [email protected] 35 points 3 days ago

I work for a controller OEM that builds the brains for managing these systems. It’s cutting edge stuff.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

The part that controls/balances the discharge profiles, right? Because sodium batteries have a more non-linear discharge pattern.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

It is what controls when to inject back up power to shave peak power, the brains to know when to use the grid when it costs the least and then it knows when to balance the solar with the back up to shave peak power.

Check us out at Ampra Grid. It’s not for residential use. Mainly for massive industrial use. Msrp of about 19,400$.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

That the controller price or does it include the battery as well? What's installation look like?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Just the controller. We don’t supply or fabricate anything power wise. We just have the connector that does the brains of the power management. It talks through cellular.

this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
343 points (98.6% liked)

Technology

73655 readers
4150 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]