Altech clears final hurdle for salt battery production in Europe

Altech Batteries has locked in the final engineering design for its next gen sodium-nickel-chloride (SNC) battery system, clearing the last major hurdle before its first production next year.

The company says its 400-volt batteries are set to roll off the line at partner AMPower’s manufacturing facilities before heading straight to Dutch gas pipeline facilities and industrial plants. The power units are regarded as a much safer storage alternative to tradition lead-based and lithium-ion batteries.

Altech declared its design complete today, with the inaugural system now booked for full factory acceptance testing (FAT) in mid-March of next year. 

Once that milestone has been ticked off, the batteries modules will be shipped immediately to the Netherlands, where five live sites – spanning safety-critical gas transmission stations, control nodes and heavy-industry backup sites – already stand ready for installation.

Each location will swap out ageing lead-acid or nickel-cadmium racks for Altech’s stainless-steel, fireproof SNC cabinets in a straight drop-in retrofit. The company says no inverter changes, no rectifier upgrades and no new wiring runs are needed – simply wheel the new unit in, bolt it down and walk away.

The company says its 2-metre-tall cabinet packs four “ZEBRA-type” SNC modules, delivering 384 volts at 82 ampere-hours and about 35 kilowatt hours of energy. 

Most importantly Altech says its battery needs zero active cooling and can shrug off temperatures anywhere from –40 degrees to 55 degrees centigrade, covering just about every location on the planet. 

The new modular battery system is a perfect alternative for European pipeline and utility engineers over its lithium-ion kin, which at times have the propensity to self-combust following wear-and-tear - an ill-advised scenario for the oil and gas industry.

Across the continent, operators face a wave of end-of-life lead-acid banks and mounting regulatory heat on cadmium-based systems. 

Altech Batteries managing director Iggy Tan said: “Completing the final design shifts the program from development into real-world deployment, and the upcoming FAT in mid- March 2026 will be a pivotal moment. With five Dutch sites preparing to receive the first systems, we are now entering an important proving phase that will demonstrate the performance, safety, and reliability advantages of our SNC UPS technology.” 

AMPower is the planet’s biggest producer of sodium-nickel-chloride cells. Armed with ex-General Electric Durathon heritage, the German-based manufacturer will handle production while Altech controls specifications, branding and distribution.

Success in the Netherlands – a market that prides itself on bullet-tight regulation and operational rigor – carries heavyweight reference value for the rest of the EU. Five live installations generating hard field data on cycling, temperature extremes and zero-maintenance runtime will do the talking that no brochure ever could.

From Perth drawing boards to Dutch gas grids in under four months, Altech’s SNC push has just crossed the line from promise to payday. When those first cabinets go live next year, the battery that runs on table salt will get to test its mettle against its new age Lithium compatriots.

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