Moonwatt unveiled a modular sodium-ion battery storage system for utility-scale PV plants at The Smarter E trade show in Munich, designed as distributed units placed across solar arrays instead of containerised blocks. The system uses passively cooled NFPP sodium-ion cells in DC- or AC-coupled configurations, targeting 93–94% solar-to-grid efficiency, lower balance-of-plant costs, and highly scalable, low-maintenance deployment without lithium, cobalt, or active cooling.
Dutch startup Moonwatt has presented new sodium-ion storage system for use in utility-scale PV plants at the Smarter E trade show in Munich, Germany, today.
“Instead of relying on large, containerised systems, Moonwatt develops small, modular enclosures that are easier to mass-produce, install, maintain and replace,” a company’s spokesperson told pv magazine. “Moonwatt’s smaller battery storage units are distributed across the entire ground-mounted PV array. This is possible because the batteries are cooled entirely passively.”
The system is available in DC- and AC-coupled versions.
The Monopod 1500 V / 4-hour Hybrid system features a DC-coupled architecture that reportedly reduces electrical balance-of-plant costs by 50%. It uses a modular design and offers a stated lifetime of 12,000 cycles. The manufacturer claims its DC-coupled interface to the PV system eliminates multiple conversion losses while achieving 94% efficiency from solar to battery to grid.
