The energy storage station can store 100,000 kWh of electricity on a single charge, which can meet the needs of around 12,000 households for a day.

China has seen another energy storage project using sodium-ion batteries go into operation, as the new batteries begin to gain wider use in energy storage.

State-owned power company China Datang Corporation put a 100-MWh energy storage station using sodium-ion batteries into operation in central China's Hubei province on June 30, the supplier of the batteries, Hina Battery, announced yesterday.

This is currently the world's largest sodium-ion battery energy storage project and marks a new stage in the commercial operation of sodium-ion battery energy storage systems, Hina Battery said.

The energy storage station is the first phase of a 200-MWh project and consists of 42 battery bays.

It can store 100,000 kWh of electricity on a single charge, releasing power during peak periods to meet the needs of about 12,000 households for a day and reducing CO2 emissions by 13,000 tons per year, according to Hina Battery.

Hina Battery said it is committed to the commercial use of sodium-ion battery energy storage technology, completing the construction of the world's first 100 kWh sodium-ion battery energy storage station in 2019.

In 2021, Hina Battery supported the commissioning of the world's first 1-MWh sodium-ion battery energy storage system.

The company delivered sodium-ion energy storage cells in bulk to China Southern Power Grid at the end of 2023, and the world's first 10-MWh sodium-ion battery energy storage station using these cells was commissioned in May this year, Hina Battery said.

The 10-MWh sodium-ion battery storage station was put into operation on May 11 in Nanning, Guangxi in southwestern China, China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage, the energy storage division of China Southern Power Grid, said on May 11.

The Nanning energy storage station is the first phase of a 100-MWh project, and when the entire project is fully completed, it will be able to provide 73 million kWh of clean electricity annually, meeting the electricity needs of 35,000 households.

Hina Battery was founded in 2017 and released its sodium-ion batteries in the same year.

On December 18, 2021, Hina Battery entered into a partnership with two subsidiaries of China Three Gorges Corporation and the Fuyang municipal government to build the world's first scaled mass production line for sodium-ion batteries.

On December 1, 2022, Hina Battery announced that the world's first GWh-scale sodium-ion battery production line saw its first product roll off the production line.

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are predominantly used in electric vehicles and energy storage stations.

Compared to lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries are seen as having richer raw material reserves, lower costs, and better performance at low temperatures.

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