Moonwatt, a clean tech startup founded by former Tesla employees, is taking energy storage systems to the next level with sodium-ion battery technology. 

As the world warms, governments and private companies worldwide are racing to deploy enough solar and wind power to decarbonize the power sector, and battery technologies play a crucial role in accelerating the green transition since they can store energy for later use. 

Most utility-scale battery systems used for energy storage rely on lithium-ion-based batteries, but raw materials for them are more expensive and less abundant compared to sodium-ion technologies. In addition, sodium processing can occur at lower temperatures than lithium, reducing the carbon footprint associated with production. 

According to Moonwatt's website, "Sodium-ion batteries hold significant promise to design the next generation of energy storage systems."

TechCrunch reported that the innovative startup, which launched in 2024, is developing sodium-ion battery systems designed for co-location with solar power plants, allowing them to completely replace energy production from polluting fuels. 

This setup will also reduce the intermittency of renewable energy sources, improving grid stability while helping lower electric costs for customers. Plus, the energy storage system will enable solar power plants to boost their capacity factor up to 80%, which will increase their profits and cut operating costs because of improved efficiency. 

"We realized that this application — solar storage — is the backbone of the future world power grid, but there is no product dedicated to it yet," co-founder and chief commercial officer Valentin Rota told TechCrunch. "So that's what Moonwatt is about: It's about making the first solar-dedicated battery storage product."

Rota and Moonwatt's CEO Zukui Hu and CTO Guillaume Mancini met about 10 years ago while working on battery tech for Tesla and have since collaborated on other clean energy projects, such as small-scale battery storage. 

Once battery technologies gained traction worldwide and costs began going down, the trio was inspired to use their experience with battery tech to revolutionize solar storage. Thus, Moonwatt was born, and it's already off to an incredible start. 

The startup recently secured $8.3 million in seed funding to scale up production of their sodium-ion storage systems. Per TechCrunch, the team is planning a pilot installation in Europe in 2026 and expects to start deploying the tech at large-scale solar plants the following year. 

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"We very much nurture an ambition to be a gigawatt-hour player, a large-scale player because we want to make an impact," Rota explained.

"Our overarching goal … is to reduce the cost of electricity of these dispatchable solar plants," he added.

Moonwatt is shooting for the moon when it comes to unlocking cheaper energy, but it will also help curb the pollution driving rising temperatures and more extreme weather. Because the power sector accounts for 40% of global carbon pollution, according to Moonwatt, it's an obvious target for decarbonization, and its sodium-ion battery system will likely be a major player in transitioning our power grids to clean energy.

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