Norway-based Morrow Batteries has signed an MOU with a Ukraine state body to supply LFP battery cells for shoring up the country’s conflict-stricken grid infrastructure.

US firm Natron Energy has announced plans for a sodium-ion gigafactory in North Carolina, while two Chinese firms have firmed up their projects, all-in-all totalling over 30GWh of annual sodium-ion production capacity.

LG Energy Solution saw its revenues fall 30% in the second quarter of the year amidst a global EV market slowdown, and the company says its ESS segment could help offset this.

While Chinese companies dominated the square footage at ees Europe / Intersolar Europe in Munich last month, some project developers are still keen on prioritising products made closer to home.

The European Council has formally adopted the EU’s support package for its clean energy manufacturing industry, the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), amidst mixed fortunes for local battery gigafactory projects.

Some of the current market prices for lithium-ion batteries are below cost and will not last forever but Europe still needs to be more cost-competitive, the CEO of one of Europe’s first large-scale manufacturing facilities told Energy-Storage.news.

We hear from developers, IPPs and upstream battery sources about the US’ decision to massively hike tariffs on batteries and battery components from China.

Europe appears to be slower and less bold than other markets like the US when it comes to financial support for upstream battery material projects like lithium refining, a company looking to invest half a billion euros in an EU project told Energy-Storage.news.

Natron Energy has started commercial-scale operations at its sodium-ion battery manufacturing plant in Michigan, US, and elaborated on how its technology compares to lithium-ion in answers provided to Energy-Storage.news.

Morrow Batteries, one of several startups committed to producing lithium-ion batteries at gigawatt-hour scale from factories in Scandinavia, has secured a 5.5GWh offtake deal.