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... Peak Energy says its technology is specifically designed for grid-scale storage and leverages sodiumion chemistry's inherent stability. Unlike many lithiumion systems, sodium-ion batteries don't require active cooling and can operate over a wide temperature range without losing performance.

That simpler design could make a meaningful dent in the cost of storing electricity.

According to Peak Energy, its system cuts the lifetime cost of stored energy by an average of $70 per kilowatt-hour. That's roughly half the total cost of a typical battery system today.

The company says it achieves those savings by removing energyhungry cooling systems, eliminating routine maintenance requirements, and reducing the need to overbuild storage capacity to account for battery degradation over time.

RWE Americas, which operates about 13 gigawatts of energy assets in the US, will run the pilot to test how the technology performs on the grid. ...