For a decade sodium-ion was the battery that would matter once lithium got expensive. In 2026 it picked up something it never had before: order books measured in gigawatt-hours. CATL signed a three-year deal in April to supply Beijing HyperStrong, one of the world’s five biggest storage integrators, with 60 GWh of sodium-ion cells. In the US, Peak Energy holds a phased agreement with Jupiter Power for up to 4.75 GWh between 2027 and 2030, and Alsym Energy has a 500 MWh deployment lined up with developer Juniper Energy, mostly in California.

Northvolt raised more than $13 billion on the promise of a European battery industry. It filed for Chapter 11 in November 2024 with $5.8 billion of debt and about $30 million in cash, and went into Swedish bankruptcy in March 2025, the largest in modern Swedish industrial history. Eighteen months on, the pieces have nearly all been sold. On September 25 the last valuable one found a buyer. Refinyx, a Stockholm startup, came out of stealth by buying Northvolt’s recycling technology: a portfolio of 134 patents and the 13,000-square-foot pilot and lab facility in Västerås.

From food security to defence, project milestone ensures independence of supply chain at time of geo-political uncertainty LONDON, Sept. 9, 2024 - A mining project qualified to be fast tracked by the Norwegian Government is now set to secure critical and strategic minerals, (essential for food security, semiconductors, batteries for EVs, green technologies and defense), having achieved a major milestone which proves the project’s viability. With growth in demand but a reliance on a limited number of producers, such as China and Russia, the creation of a new integrated value chain for critical raw materials in Europe has become a strategic imperative.

The recent GAO report, “Critical Minerals: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options for Recovery from Nontraditional Sources” (GAO-24-106395), highlights the United States’ reliance on foreign nations, including adversaries, for critical minerals essential for manufacturing and defense. The report identifies nontraditional domestic sources, such as mining wastes, coal by-products, and geothermal brines, as viable alternatives to traditional mining. The recovery of critical minerals from nontraditional sources presents several benefits. These include increased independence from foreign suppliers, stabilization of mineral prices, and the reuse of existing industrial sites, which can reduce environmental impacts associated with new mining operations.