We catch up with the CEO of Netherlands-headquartered system integrator Alfen to discuss its sodium-ion BESS partnership with CATL and plans for the technology in Europe.

The Democrats have won the House and the Senate in the US Midterm elections, dealing a blow to the Trump administration and sending Chinese and Korean battery share prices upwards.

CATL has launched its 9MWh TENER+ battery storage system at All-Energy Australia 2026 and signed three MoUs with Australian partners.

Owner-operator Giga Storage has finalised financing for the construction of its 350MW/1,400MWh Albatross energy storage project near Neuenkirchen in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Energy storage is becoming an indispensable new-type power system infrastructure, CATL CEO and chairman Robin Zeng said in an industry speech last week.

Intilion has just tied up with CATL for sodium-ion BESS deployments in Europe, following Alfen’s similar move in July, while Merus Power tells us it is in the process of integrating with the OEM’s new product. 

The first half of the year saw mixed results among China’s leading ESS suppliers, though generally the industry is still performing strongly, writes PV Tech ESS analyst Charlotte Gisbourne. 

Hithium’s recent sodium-ion battery and BESS product launch is the latest in a long line of announcements showing an inflection point for the battery chemistry. But how do its new products compare to other sodium-ion systems out there, and to its own LFP offering?  

Having just begun construction on a 2.8GWh BESS in Belgium, Giga Storage has progressed its 1.4GWh project in Germany to the ready-to-build stage.

A flurry of project completions, financings and supplier deals for large-scale BESS across the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region, from Greenvolt, Renovatio & CATL, Eurowind, Renalfa, MOL Group, Tavion, MetaWealth and Enexus & Longi.