Australian sodium battery start-up claims major milestones as storage industry starts to look beyond lithium

An Australian sodium battery startup has claimed two important milestones that will herald the rollout of its technology as the global storage industry looks increasingly at alternatives beyond lithium-ion.

The Queensland-based PowerCap was established by former chemical and petroleum engineers who had seen enough of the fossil fuel industry and turned initially to fuel cells and then sodium ion technology.

After more than six years of research and development, PowerCap has advanced the technology far enough to become what it says is the first Western sodium-ion battery manufacturer to achieve both TÜV and PPP certification, meaning it can now advance its production and commercial activities.

Sodium-ion technology is now attracting global attention as an alternative to lithium-ion, because of its abundant raw materials (salt), and improved thermal stability. Its backers say it steals a march on other competing technologies such as flow batteries because of lower costs.

Major deals have been announced by China’s CATL, and the US-based Peak Energy, and PowerCap founder, CEO and chief engineer Dane El Safty says sodium is starting to match it on costs.

Some Australian utilities, such as AGL, say they are looking at the technology as a possible alternative to lithium as they map out their next round of big battery investments.

El Safty, who once helped develop shale oil extraction for the likes of Chevron and Shell, says there is a lot to like about sodium-ion as a battery technology.

He says sodium has less electrical resistance than lithium. “Electricity will flow faster, so you are not heating up the battery and (risking thermal runaway),” he tells Renew Economy.

“There will always be a lead acid and lithium market, but they will shrink as sodium ion storage grows. Sodium is abundant. We can suck it out of the ocean or from a desalination plant. It will be vastly cheaper because the substrate does not have the same cost. For safety reasons and cost reasons, i think you swill see sodium gain momentum.”

For the moment, however, the technology is very new and has not yet reached scale. And it is facing significant regulatory barriers, including in Australia where the technology is currently excluded from the federal government’s massively popular home battery rebate program.

Like other modern battery suppliers, PowerCap is offering its product in small modules, or pods, in each case each of 3.7 kWh (see photo above) which can be combined to provide home systems of 10.3 kWh or 24 kWh useable capacity.

It has designed commercial systems based around 53-113 kWh packs, and bigger modules of around 600 kWh for grid scale deployment

El Safty says the company has already achieved sales of more than five megawatt hours, mostly in Indonesia but also with some key clients in Australia, including actor and environmentalist Zac Effron for his home in northern NSW.

Other potential clients include a cement factory that can’t risk using lithium ion batteries near its kiln, and an organic winery that would risk losing its accreditation if the soil was to be contaminated by lithium-ion chemistry.

“Sodium is a far safer battery than anything you would have with lithium ion,” El Safty says. “We are now the only company in the world who has achieved that certification for sodium ion battery packs, and we are now looking to engage with distributors, EPC contractors, and strategic partners in Australia and around the world.

El Safty says Australia has an opportunity to create its own manufacturing bases, but his company has run into difficulties and frustrations with the federal government’s R&D scheme which he says has not been helpful.

The company now has 10 post doctorate researchers working with the company – electrical, electronic, mechanism and biomechanics engineers – and one of its first deployments has been at an off-grid railway maintenance facility, partnering with 600 kW of solar.

“We hope to be able to establish cell and assembly plants in Euope and the US. The issue with Australia is the design of the R&D tax incentive. We’ve been denied payments … otherwise we might put a battery assembly plant here.”

El Safty also sees promise in the EV market, but probably as a sodium solid state technology, which would improve energy density essential for electric cars. “That’s when we come super-competitive for the mobile market,” he says. 

“Sodium solid state is anode free, it enables us to use the layers of sodium to store the energy. We want to get the battery a lot small and a lot lighter.”

El Safty, like many others, predicts huge growth for the sodium-ion market, and predicts that it could become a major part of the storage market within 5 to 10 years. But it could be quicker.

“Most of the industry predictions are that it will be 5-10 years, but the transition from lead acid to lithium took far less time. We want our competitors to hurry up, because that will help reduce the cost.”

To join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.

To support independent media, and combat AI slop, you can click here to make a one off donation or become a regular supporter of Renew Economy.