"It's a commercial system. And it has a customer:" Sodium-ion battery sale hailed as a first for Australia

The sale of a 100 kilowatt and 200 kilowatt-hour battery system wouldn’t usually make the news, but an announcement posted on LinkedIn earlier this week is attracting attention for its claim as a potential first in Australia, given the chemistry of the battery is sodium-ion, instead of the ubiquitous lithium.

Foton Pty Ltd, which is the name of the exclusive Australian distributor of the battery storage technologies of China-based global manufacture Cospowers, said on Wednesday that it has sold its first ever C&I battery with sodium-ion chemistry, describing it as “an important first step” for the company.

According to Foton managing director Krishna Thota, it could also be a first for Australia.

“Based on our review of publicly available projects and announcements, we believe this represents Australia’s first commercially sold 100kW / 200kWh sodium-ion C&I BESS,” Thota wrote in his own LinkedIn post.

“This isn’t a prototype sitting in a laboratory. It’s a commercial system. And it has a customer.