Alfen, a European energy solutions provider, and CATL have expanded their collaboration to deploy 5 GWh of CATL’s advanced sodium-ion BESS across Europe, the Chinese battery giant said. Since the start of their collaboration, Alfen and CATL have worked closely on lithium-ion energy storage projects. Back in 2023, the two parties began a long-term battery supply partnership, which was expanded in 2024 to accommodate Alfen’s growing demand for energy storage deployment in Europe. “Sodium-ion is the next step in how we think about energy storage — more diversified, resilient, and built for where the market is heading,” said Michael Colijn, CEO, Alfen. Joint deployment of sodium-ion projects with Alfen allows CATL to accumulate localised European grid application experience for sodium batteries, optimize product adaptation to European grid codes, and accelerate the global scaling of sodium-ion energy storage shipments, CATL said.