Electrek: "Peak Energy just shipped the US's first grid-scale sodium-ion battery." The New York-based company Peak Energy claims 3 accomplishments: 'comprising US’s first grid-scale sodium-ion battery; the largest sodium-ion phosphate pyrophosphate (NFPP) battery system in the world; first megawatt-hour scale battery to run entirely on passive cooling – no fans, pumps, or vents.' Important because with no moving parts or active cooling system, essentially the fire risk is eliminated. "According to the Electric Power Research Institute, 89% of battery fires in the US trace back to thermal management issues." Important in that the '3.5 MWh system uses a patent-pending passive cooling architecture that’s simpler, more reliable, and cheaper to run and maintain.' And this technology slashes auxiliary power needs by up to 90%, saves about $1 million annually per gigawatt hour of storage, and cuts battery degradation by 33% over a 20-year lifespan. Paul Durkee, Peak’s VP of engineering, claims 'this isn’t just another product launch—it’s a breakthrough in energy storage.' Backing this up, sodium-ion batteries work well in hot or cold weather without auxiliary cooling/heating systems. "The US holds the world’s largest soda ash reserves, a key sodium-ion ingredient, and the full raw material supply chain can be sourced domestically or from allied countries." CEO and co-founder Landon Mossburg says, "We see energy storage not only as an economic imperative, but also as a national security priority.” Remember that in the first [vertical] group on the left in the Periodic Table of Elements, lithium is #3 and sodium is #11, stacked on top of each other + sharing many characteristics. Sodium ion batteries would free up lithium for transportation. This will be an interesting story to follow. One of the many reasons to maintain climate hope.
