China may have appeared to be favoring lithium-ion battery storage, from the way it has been securing mineral reserves. However, in the background it has been quietly developing alternatives. South China Morning Post broke with news of sodium storage in China on May 14, 2024. And believe us, this appears to be no idle experiment either.
Major Player Steers Sodium Storage in China
The pilot project, because that’s what it appears to be, is in Hanning City in the Guangxi autonomous region of southern China. This falls in the remit of China Southern Power Grid Company Limited, which is one of two state-owned retail electricity providers.
The sodium-ion energy storage battery farm will kick off with just 10 megawatt-hours capacity. However, once it is complete, it should reach 100-megawatt-hours storage per the utility managing it.
Total delivery should then equate to some 73,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy, according to the article relayed by Microsoft Start. This could be able to meet the needs of 35,000 families, while slashing 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually from what we’ve heard.
Southern Power Hails Sodium-Ion Efficiency
This step into the waters of sodium storage in China appears to be the first one of many, according to a local grid manager. “The energy conversion efficiency of this sodium-ion battery energy storage system is over 92 per cent. This is higher than the current common lithium-ion battery energy storage systems,” they added on China Central Television.
We welcome this step towards greater use of clean energy resources, such as wind and solar in China. Battery energy storage plays an increasingly essential role in up-scaling these, as well as providing grid support services.
China Southern Power Grid Company Limited manages 20% of the total Chinese national electrical distribution system. It serves China’s five southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan.
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