UNIGRID, Syntropic Power are planning US sodium-ion battery manufacturing

A new type of home battery is moving toward production. Two companies, UNIGRID and Syntropic Power, are teaming up to build sodium-ion batteries in the United States, with plans to manufacture the cells domestically by the end of 2027. Sodium-ion batteries use a different chemistry than the lithium-ion batteries common in home storage today, and the companies say this version, called sodium chromium oxide (NCO), performed well in independent lab testing at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The tests found high efficiency, strong performance over more than 1,000 charge cycles, and stable behavior even under extreme conditions, without needing mechanical cooling systems.

For homeowners, the near-term product to watch is called Tenet, a wall-mounted battery meant for houses, small businesses, and "virtual power plant" programs that let utilities tap into home batteries during peak demand. A larger version, GridSpan, is aimed at big installations like grid-scale storage rather than individual homes. The companies plan to deploy 1 gigawatt-hour of this battery technology in 2027, starting with these two products.

This is still an early-stage development. No manufacturing locations have been announced, and the batteries have not yet reached the market for home installation. But if it moves forward as planned, it could give homeowners another battery option beyond the lithium-ion systems currently sold for solar and backup power, potentially with different safety and durability characteristics.