CATL Debuts World's First Field-Validated Sodium-Ion BESS, Bringing Sodium Storage to Commercial Reality

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.catl.com/en/news/6861.html

2026-06-22

Munich, Germany | June 22, 2026 — CATL today officially unveiled the TENER Sodium Energy Storage System, the world's first real-world validated sodium-ion energy storage solution in Munich, Germany. The solution has reached full commercial maturity across technology, production capacity, and supply chain readiness. Cumulative shipments are expected to reach 1 GWh by the end of 2026, with global deliveries to begin in June 2027.

"CATL is committed to promoting energy independence around the world while delivering long term value for our customers. To achieve this we have made it our mission to develop a new battery chemistry based upon abundant resources available across all continents, one that can support the energy needs of all eight billion people, while offering longer cycle life and enhanced safety" said William Wu, Director of CATL's Energy Storage Technology Center, at the launch event. " We believe that sodium and lithium together will form the twin foundations of the future energy storage system.”

TENER Sodium: Certainty for an Uncertain Future

As the share of renewable energy continues to rise and AI-driven power demand surges, energy storage is moving from a supporting role to critical infrastructure for the global energy system. However, conventional energy storage has relied heavily on lithium-based systems, whose concentrated supply and volatile prices pose growing supply chain risks. Sodium—over 1,000 times more abundant than lithium and widely distributed—offers better extreme-temperature performance, safety, and cost potential, making a technology transition in energy storage inevitable.

"The energy storage industry has moved beyond a race for scale. Today, success is increasingly defined by the ability to create long-term value," said Amanda Xu, CTO ESS and President of ESS Europe CATL, in her keynote speech. "The principle we most firmly believe in is that readiness creates certainty.”

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[Ilsa]

1. Don't tell trump or his cabinet. He'll get RFK Jr to tell us

the sodium will spike our blood pressure or kill fish or something stupid. The last thing we need is another disruption to planning for a clean energy future.