Europe’s largest sodium-ion battery installation goes live
Source：www.ess-news.com
Switzerland’s Phenogy has launched a megawatt-hour-scale sodium ion energy storage system at a commercial site near Bremen Airport in northern Germany. With this project, the Swiss manufacturer is making its debut on the European energy storage scene, backed by ambitions to develop fully vertically integrated local manufacturing.
By Marija Maisch, Sep 25, 2025
Image: Phenogy
Coming out of stealth, Switzerland’s Phenogy unveiled its first commercial-scale deployment on Wednesday – marking the largest sodium-ion battery installation in Europe to date.
The single-container system, installed at a commercial site near Bremen Airport in northern Germany, delivers 400 kW of power and offers nearly 1 MWh of storage capacity. It is paired with an existing 50 kW solar array and is currently operating in island mode, optimizing on-site energy consumption while powering electric vehicle chargers.
One of the primary challenges in deploying sodium-ion batteries at scale has been inverter compatibility, due to the broader voltage range compared to conventional lithium-ion systems. This made the choice of inverter technology critically important.
Phenogy integrated eight Sunny Island X 50 inverters from SMA into the 20-foot container. These inverters were designed to support applications beyond the widely used lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry. They have an integrated DC-DC converter, allowing greater flexibility in voltage matching. SMA provided pre-production units of the Sunny Island X 50 to the Bremen site, marking one of the first installations of this new product.
Phenogy says its PHENOGY 1.0 system is designed for a broad range of applications – including industrial, commercial, grid, critical infrastructure, and EV charging – though detailed technical specifications have not been released.
Strategic alternative
In recent years, sodium-ion batteries have emerged as a strong contender to lithium-ion technology. While often described as a cheaper and more sustainable alternative, thanks to the abundance of sodium and relatively low extraction costs, the technology still faces several hurdles before reaching mass-market viability.
China is currently leading the way — both in technology development, driven by companies like CATL, BYD, and Huawei, and in deployment, with 100 MW-scale projects and multiple hybrid systems combining sodium-ion with lithium-ion and even grid-forming inverters.
“It would be a strategic mistake to invest in large-scale LFP production in Europe today and still remain dependent on China due to the import of precursors,” says Max Kory, CTO of Phenogy, in an interview with ESS News. “Lithium prices will rise again – with mine closures in China, the market is nearing a breaking point. As prices climb, alternative chemistries become more attractive, and sodium-ion is the prime candidate for building a localized supply chains in Europe and North America.”
While sodium and other key materials are widely available, Kory emphasizes that the critical step is establishing local production of cathode and anode materials, particularly hard carbon – which can be synthesized from agricultural waste like nut shells, cellulose, and banana peels.
“Until this happens, it will be difficult to build a fully vertically integrated sodium-ion manufacturing base in Europe,” he says. “The experiences of Northvolt in Europe and Natron Energy in the US show that it’s hard to do this alone. Scrap rates in battery production can be high and they can quickly destroy your business.”
Despite these challenges, Phenogy is committed to becoming a fully integrated manufacturer.
“For real strategic impact, we need vertical integration,” Kory says. “In the US, we see a much stronger push for supply chain independence. They also experience more frequent blackouts and face growing electricity demand from expanding data center fleets. That’s why we’ve also established operations in South Carolina.”
While mass-market demand for sodium-ion may not there yet, Phenogy is betting on the technology’s intrinsic advantages to gain traction. These include: broader temperature tolerance and decent energy density – “currently still slightly below LFP”, according to Kory.
In the short term, sodium-ion systems remain more expensive than LFP, but Phenogy sees strategic buyers emerging.
“For a growing number of customers, technology choices are strategic decisions, not purely economic,” says Kory. “The product doesn’t need to be cheaper. In a world of volatile raw material prices and rising geopolitical risks, supply chain independence is critical.”
Founded in 2019, Phenogy employs approximately 60 people across Europe and the US. Its partner network include the University of South Carolina in Columbia, the Exentis Group AG, a specialist in industrial additive manufacturing, and several Fraunhofer Institutes.