The EU is transitioning to a secure, sustainable and competitive energy system as laid out in the EC’s Energy Union strategy. The growing penetration of renewable energy sources in the EU energy market goes hand in hand with the high competitiveness of the most consolidated technologies: Wind Energy and Solar Photovoltaics. The non-dispatchable renewable generation requires higher flexibility in the energy system, where the weight of much more decentralised installations grows day-to-day. The flourishing of a broad portfolio of renewable energy installations is allowing the deployment of large to small-scale industrial electricity grids and an increased share of electricity produced in private households.
The share of renewable energy sources in the EU energy market constantly grows, demanding highly consolidated technologies such as wind energy and solar photovoltaics to face global competitiveness. The market requires higher flexibility that can be achieved with the growth of decentralised installations and lower costs. However, advanced and cost-effective alternatives to existing technologies are being developed in Asia. The EU-funded NAIMA project intends to build and test new-generation sodium-ion cells and prove that they are highly competitive, safe, solid and the most cost-effective solution to replace lithium-based technologies. The new technology relies on a robust European battery value chain committed to significantly investing in the sector, making EU manufacturing highly competitive worldwide.
The NAIMA project demonstrated that the new generation of high-competitive and safe Na-Ion cells developed and tested during the project is one of the most robust and cost-effective alternatives to unseat the current and future Li-based technologies, nowadays controlled by the Asian industry. The EU cannot jeopardise the future of its more robust sector with a technology already in the hands of non-European countries. Under this scenario, the most robust non-Lithium alternative is the technology based on Sodium-ion (Na-ion). This disruptive technology is already supported by a solid European Battery value chain (industry partners of the consortium) through their solid commitment to substantial investments in manufacturing all battery components, preserving the ownership and industry strength around European countries. Within the framework of the project, three sodium-ion battery prototypes were tested in 3 multi-scale Business Scenarios to provide solid evidence about the competitiveness of the technology in 3 natural Energy Stationary Storage environments (renewable generation, industry and private household) through the application of an assessment and monitoring protocol.
