England’s LiNa Energy gets €4M to develop low-cost solid-state sodium batteries: Know moreLiNa Energy

Lancaster, England-based LiNa Energy, a developer of low-cost solid-state sodium batteries, announced that it has secured £3.5M (approximately €4M). 

The funding round was led by Jacob Wolff-Petersen (partner in LiNa Energy), which comprises £2.7M (approximately €3.1M) of equity and £815k (approximately €952K) grant from the Future Enterprise Investor Partnership administered by Innovate UK.

Besides standalone fundraising, LiNa also secured an advanced commitment for future funding. 

The funding will help LiNa Energy to build an automated solid-state electrolyte manufacturing line at the company’s first pilot-scale production facility. 

LiNa Energy: Developing low-cost sodium batteries

LiNa Energy was founded by Dr Gene Lewis and Dr Richard Dawson as a spin-off of Lancaster University in 2017. 

LiNa Energy has developed low-cost solid-state sodium batteries to meet the growing need for longer durations of stationary energy storage beyond four hours. 

According to the company, its sodium battery technology is based on a solid-state electrolyte, which offers several advantages over traditional lithium-ion batteries. 

Sodium batteries are more stable and safer, and they can be manufactured using more abundant and less expensive materials.

The company’s sodium batteries are made from food-grade salt and iron, providing cost advantages and enabling widespread adoption, even in emerging markets where solar power relies on storage for on-demand electricity.

Partnership with Indian company

LiNa has started a pilot project of 10 kWhr in partnership with an Indian company this year. 

The project involves connecting a sodium-based Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) to the Indian grid at a distribution scale. LiNa has several projects in different parts of the world and is planning to conduct commercial-scale demonstrations in 2024 and beyond.

Over the next eighteen months, LiNa aims to demonstrate the ultra-low cost of their proprietary solid-state sodium batteries through this new approach to manufacturing.

Will Tope, CEO, of LiNa Energy says, “Over the past 12 months we have seen surging demand for longer duration storage systems and alternatives to lithium-ion, and this is only going to increase further. With our first system deployed in India, this recent funding and the welcome support of Innovate UK allows us to scale to automated manufacturing and keep up with our exciting slate of projects in India, Europe, and the Middle East.”