News Synopsis
Snapshot
Company - Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL)
Product - TENER Sodium Energy Storage System
Technology - Sodium-ion battery chemistry
Capacity - More than 30MWh rated capacity per system
Deployment - Global deliveries beginning June 2027
Shipments - 1GWh expected by end of 2026
Partners - HyperStrong (60GWh commercial contract)
Manufacturing - 40GWh annual capacity at Fuding base, 160GWh planned at Jining base
China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) is the world’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. On June 22, 2026, CATL has launched the TENER Sodium Energy Storage System in Munich, Germany, marking it as the world’s first sodium-ion energy storage solution validated through real-world use. The company has invested nearly €1.2 billion (~$1.37 billion) in sodium-ion battery R&D since 2016, resulting in more than 1,600 patent families and over 200 patents granted globally.
The TENER Sodium system is designed to address demand for energy storage solutions offering enhanced safety, lower maintenance costs, and improved efficiency. The system features a fully modular architecture, with each single module weighing about 42 tonnes and only 34 units required for a 1GWh site. This modular design offers greater configuration flexibility, with energy and power blocks decoupled to support flexible storage durations of 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 hours, tailored to specific project requirements.
CATL has developed a dedicated bidirectional (Bi-DC) voltage regulation system for the TENER Sodium solution, which enables automatic voltage boosting in the low-voltage range. This improves overall system round-trip efficiency (RTE) by nearly 2%, resulting in millions of additional kilowatt-hours of power generation each year for a 1GWh energy storage station. The system is compatible with all major PCS products worldwide and provides stronger grid support capability.
The TENER Sodium system also features a purpose-built BMS system that leverages sodium chemistry's continuously sloping voltage curve, enabling more accurate SOC estimation. The overcharge SOC tolerance of sodium-ion batteries has been increased by 20% compared with lithium-ion batteries, providing an additional 20% safety margin for operation. In terms of thermal management, the TENER Sodium system employs a unique top-discharge airflow design that eliminates thermal-island effects at the source, reducing system heat generation by nearly 30% compared to conventional solutions. Combined with a highly efficient liquid-cooling system, auxiliary power consumption has been reduced from the industry average of 2% to 1%. For large-scale, long-duration energy storage projects, this improvement can save millions of euros in operating costs.
The TENER Sodium system operates at only 65 decibels, 10 decibels lower than conventional systems, addressing local community concerns and allowing for energy storage stations to be built closer to load centers. The system is also compatible with LFP systems and shares the same physical footprint, providing customers with the flexibility to switch between sodium-ion and lithium-ion technologies. CATL has established a complete closed-loop ecosystem for sodium-ion energy storage, covering cell R&D, system delivery, product testing, and commercial deployment. The company has invested RMB 5 billion to expand sodium-ion production lines at its Fuding base, adding 40GWh of annual capacity. The Jining base in Shandong has planned 160GWh of sodium-ion production capacity. CATL's mass-production lines are fully commissioned and operational, ready to support large-scale deployment.
The TENER Sodium system is expected to reach cumulative shipments of 1GWh by the end of 2026, with international deliveries scheduled to begin in June 2027. In April 2026, CATL and HyperStrong signed the world's largest sodium-ion commercial contract, a three-year, 60GWh energy storage order, marking the official entry of sodium-ion energy storage into the GWh-scale deployment era. The system also reserves an upgrade path to 2,000V high-voltage architectures to adapt to future technology routes. CATL has been developing sodium-ion battery technology since 2016, involving more than 300 R&D professionals who have overcome more than 100 technical challenges along the way.