Santa Clara, California-based sodium-ion battery maker Natron Energy Inc. is preparing to build a $1.4 billion factory in North Carolina that will be the first U.S. “gigafactory” for the technology, the company and government officials said Aug. 15.
The 1.2 million square foot plant is to be built on a 437-acre site in Edgecombe County that was earmarked for a Chinese manufacturer’s tire factory, whose construction has now been canceled. The North Carolina factory is expected to have a capacity of 24 GW, which the company says would increase its production capacity by 40 times.
The company opened its first commercial-scale power plant in Holland, Michigan, earlier this year. This plant has a capacity of 600 megawatts and, according to Natron, will serve as a “blueprint” for its future, larger plants.
Natron expects to supply batteries for data centers, microgrids, electric vehicle charging systems and other applications from the plant. Its batteries do not require the same expensive minerals such as lithium, copper, nickel and cobalt as lithium-ion batteries. The company claims its product outperforms others in terms of power density and charging speed. Natron also said its batteries, which use aluminum, iron, manganese and sodium electrolyte, are non-flammable and are an environmentally friendly alternative to lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries.
“This flagship manufacturing facility will dramatically accelerate our efforts to deliver sodium-ion batteries to customers seeking safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy storage solutions,” said Colin Wessells, co-CEO of Natron, in a statement.
“This is important when we think about supply chains and geopolitics, because anywhere on earth where you can make stainless steel, you can make a soda battery,” he told S&P Global earlier this year.
The company said its products “are based on a unique and patented Prussian blue electrode chemistry … that stores and transfers sodium ions faster and has lower internal resistance than any other battery currently on the market.” Wessells said other sodium-ion products coming to market “generally use either carbon or ceramic-based terminals in the battery instead of Prussian blue for … highest energy densities – making them more attractive to certain segments of the electric vehicle market.” But “we made a compromise,” he told S&P Global.
Wessells stressed that “in return,” sodium offers higher performance, durability and safety, which “is important to many of our customers. There is less energy in that battery overall, so that power is not available for very long, but the maximum power that can be delivered (at once) is much higher.” He said this potential is “very attractive for industrial applications where you are trying to manage power in a commercial environment. It’s not really about how much energy is in the box, it’s about how quickly we can get it all out.”
A Natron spokesman said the company could not yet comment on the selection of the contractor for the new power plant.
Natron is set to receive a Job Development Investment Program grant from the state for up to $21.7 million over 12 years. Officials also plan for the county to receive a $30 million Megasite Readiness Program grant from the state to prepare it.
According to PitchBook, the company has raised around $300 million from investors.
