Sodium-ion battery system provides electricity for 12,000 households

Datang Electric’s sodium-ion battery system in Qianjiang, Hubei Province, was connected to the grid at the end of June, Interesting Engineering The system uses 185 Ah sodium-ion batteries manufactured by Chinese company HiNa Battery, including 42 battery boxes and 21 turbochargers.

The new system will store up to 100 MWh of electricity and distribute it to 12,000 homes to meet daily needs. At this scale, the facility will help reduce carbon emissions by 13,000 tons per year.

The grid connection also makes it the world’s largest sodium battery system, surpassing the previous record holder in Nanning, southwest China, with a capacity of 10 MWh, which went into operation in May. While the Nanning facility is expected to increase its storage capacity to 100 MWh, the Qianjiang facility will also increase to 200 MWh in the next phase.

With high storage density, lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electronic devices and electric vehicles. They are also used for renewable energy, but large-scale storage requires very large battery packs. In addition, many renewable energy plants are located in harsh environments, so the battery packs are also exposed to high temperatures, which exacerbates the problems of lithium-ion batteries such as fire risk and suboptimal storage performance. This is why scientists are looking for alternatives and choosing sodium-ion batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries have several advantages over lithium-ion. First, they are made from sodium, which is more abundant and easier to obtain than lithium. Due to high demand, lithium prices are also at record highs. Additionally, sodium-ion batteries are scalable, safer, and perform well in both extremely low and high temperatures.

“They can still ensure 85% charge and discharge efficiency at -20 degrees Celsius, which other batteries cannot do. They can also ensure 1,500 charge and discharge cycles at temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius,” said Cui Yongle, project manager of Hubei Datang Sodium Ion Energy Storage.

The world is moving towards reducing fossil fuels and using renewable sources such as wind and solar power. However, these sources still have the disadvantage of being unstable. With the ability to store electricity for later distribution, systems such as sodium-ion batteries will play an important role in helping the world transition to green energy.