The five-year agreement extends an existing partnership into sodium-ion storage across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
From ESS News
Chinese battery manufacturer CATL and German energy storage system integrator Intilion have signed an agreement to jointly develop up to 3 GWh of sodium-ion battery energy storage projects across German-speaking Europe over the next five years.
Intilion CEO Hubertus Jakobi announced the agreement in a LinkedIn post on Oct. 9, saying the companies intend to deploy CATL’s sodium-ion battery solutions in the DACH markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The agreement expands their established cooperation into an additional battery chemistry.
The 3 GWh figure represents a development target rather than confirmed battery deliveries. Neither company has disclosed specific projects, procurement commitments, contract values or initial delivery schedules.
The companies have worked together for several years. In May 2025, CATL and Intilion closed another partnership agreement targeting up to 10 GWh of battery storage projects in the DACH region over five years. That agreement covered CATL’s TENER energy storage products and explored additional cooperation on integrated DC and AC solutions. The companies have not specified whether the new sodium-ion target forms part of that earlier framework.
Headquartered in Paderborn, Intilion is part of Germany’s HOPPECKE Group. The company specializes in integrating battery technologies into utility-scale and commercial and industrial storage systems, providing engineering, software, commissioning and maintenance services.
Jakobi highlighted several claimed performance characteristics of CATL’s sodium-ion technology, including round-trip efficiency exceeding 96.5%, more than 15,000 charge-discharge cycles, and capacity retention above 90% at low temperatures.
CATL’s published specifications for its TENER Sodium energy storage system provide further technical reference: 15,000 cycles at 25 C, more than 10,000 cycles at 45 C, and capacity retention above 92% at -20 C.
CATL unveiled TENER Sodium in Munich in June 2026 at The Smarter E conference. The modular system offers more than 30 MWh per standardized energy block and supports storage durations ranging from one to eight hours. CATL has also developed dedicated bidirectional DC voltage regulation and battery management systems to accommodate sodium-ion battery characteristics.
Jakobi said sodium-ion technology could offer advantages in reducing the environmental impacts associated with raw material extraction and lowering noise emissions at storage sites. He added that the partnership aims to be among the first to “turn this technological potential into concrete projects.”
The agreement follows several other European Sodium-ion partnerships. In July, CATL and Dutch energy technology supplier Alfen announced plans to deploy 5 GWh of sodium-ion storage systems across Europe. CATL has also signed a three-year, 60 GWh sodium-ion cooperation agreement with Chinese integrator HyperStrong.
CATL expects its sodium-ion storage shipments to reach 1 GWh in 2026, with international deliveries scheduled to begin in June 2027.
This partnership benefits mutually. For Intilion, the agreement broadens its battery technology portfolio beyond lithium-ion systems. For CATL, it provides another established European integration partner as the company seeks to commercialize sodium-ion storage internationally.
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