Post AzVdyAumRqRb8xnyLI by leighelse@mastodon.nz
 (DIR) More posts by leighelse@mastodon.nz
 (DIR) Post #AzVdyAumRqRb8xnyLI by leighelse@mastodon.nz
       2025-10-23T18:21:45Z
       
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       Sodium-ion batteries are coming, and they're going to change the world.https://cleantechnica.com/2025/10/22/the-sodium-ion-battery-revolution-has-started/'he cost of sodium battery materials is much lower than for any lithium battery. There are no resource bottleneck materials like cobalt or lithium to contend with. In addition, aluminum can be used for electrodes, whereas lithium requires copper for one of the electrodes. Carbon or graphite and separator materials will be similar, but in all other respects, sodium has much lower material costs. Compared to LFP, sodium does not require phosphorous, a substance that is almost exclusively sourced from one state in north Africa, nor lithium, a relatively abundant but more expensive substance than sodium. LFP cannot compete on material costs or temperature range, and both BYD and CATL expect to phase it out first in energy storage.'
       
 (DIR) Post #AzVdyCBphvg968n6Yq by JimmyKip@mastodon.nz
       2025-10-23T18:23:10Z
       
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       @leighelse I think there's already home battery banks that are Sodium Ion out there now, just need to hope NZ isn't too many years behind in adopting them.I've been hoping for them to arrive just when we can afford to go solar + battery as that tech really is the missing piece.
       
 (DIR) Post #AzVdyDXUgsbFHbvuxk by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
       2025-10-23T18:44:44Z
       
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       @JimmyKip> I think there's already home battery banks that are Sodium Ion out there nowIndeed there are. I have friends living off-grid who ordered some directly from China and installed them about a year ago. They can't sing their praises highly enough.> hope NZ isn't too many years behind in adopting themThe recent power outages got me thinking about how every home having a bank of them as a UPS could create distributed storage of renewable energy during peak generation.@leighelse
       
 (DIR) Post #AzVeI88iTZayKOq4Iq by JimmyKip@mastodon.nz
       2025-10-23T18:48:21Z
       
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       @strypey @leighelse This was my conclusion during Gabrielle as well.A storm that took down high voltage transmission could isolate a region for quite some time.Adding effectively distributed storage to all houses with optional power loads can let people keep the essentials going when the grid isn't available.It would be a significantly better investment IMO than a gas terminal as it would spread the work throughout the country, employing & upskilling people in all of the regions.
       
 (DIR) Post #AzeIzDJok9YRP6xmnw by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
       2025-10-27T23:02:03Z
       
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       @JimmyKip> It would be a significantly better investment IMO than a gas terminal💯% and also a more resilient approach than Lake Onslow. Which could also be cut off as an electricity source in a natural disaster.Not that I'm against Lake Onslow. At this point things are urgent and anything is better than nothing. But I tend to think, all else being equal, that decentralised approaches are a better investment than mega-projects.@leighelse
       
 (DIR) Post #AzeTziPEGDiRJbw6XA by thomasbeagle@mastodon.nz
       2025-10-28T01:05:22Z
       
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       @strypey @JimmyKip @leighelse Last time I looked at the price of Project Onslow, it would have paid for a *lot* of home generation/storage systems.Obviously there's a difference between a seasonal store and a daily store - but we also expect the sun to refill daily too.