Another Sodium Energy Storage Startup Vows To Carry On After Natron Crashes - CleanTechnica

The article reports on the closure of Natron, a US-based "salt battery" startup that was developing sodium-based energy storage solutions, resulting in the loss of about 1,000 factory jobs and a setback for renewable energy storage efforts. Natron had been preparing to produce sodium batteries at a North Carolina facility with plans for significant capacity expansion, but recently wound down operations at both its Michigan headquarters and North Carolina site. While the company did not provide explicit reasons, the article attributes part of the failure to the negative impact of US tariffs and political opposition to domestic wind and solar industries under the Trump administration, including legislative actions that harmed factory jobs. Despite Natron’s closure, the article highlights ongoing progress in sodium energy storage through another US startup, Inlyte. Inlyte is advancing a sodium-iron battery technology that leverages the advantages of sodium—such as abundance, safety, and cost-effectiveness—especially for long-duration grid-scale storage exceeding 10 hours, which lithium-ion batteries typically