Jaipur discom and GEAPP to pilot India's first sodium-ion grid battery

A discom buys a chemistry that skips lithium

On 29 October, Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVNL) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet said they had signed a memorandum of understanding for what they describe as India's first sodium-ion battery energy storage pilot at the distribution transformer level. A request for proposal for a 250 kW, 250 kWh system was issued at the Distribution Utility Meet 2026. The site is K.L. Saini Stadium in Jaipur.

The split of work is simple. JVVNL gives the site, a dedicated team and the operational data. The Global Energy Alliance handles system design support and performance monitoring, and trains JVVNL engineers. The pilot is meant to test transformer level peak load management, rooftop solar use, safety and thermal behaviour, cost, degradation and lifecycle benefit against both lithium-ion and the conventional answer, which is a bigger transformer and more copper.

Rajasthan's energy secretary Arti Dogra said in the announcement that the pilot "lets us test on our own network and in our own climatic conditions, whether storage that avoids lithium can ease that strain". Tanya Singhal, the alliance's vice president and country head for India, said utilities "should have more than one credible chemistry to choose from".

Why this matters for anyone buying an EV

Sodium-ion is not only a grid story. CATL's Naxtra sodium-ion cell went into mass production in December 2025 and claims 175 Wh/kg, peak charging at 5C, 90 per cent usable capacity at minus 40 degrees Celsius and 500 km of range. It was certified on 5 September 2025 as the first sodium-ion battery to pass China's GB 38031-2025 safety standard for EV traction batteries. At 175 Wh/kg it is in LFP territory, which is the chemistry in most affordable Indian EVs today.

That makes sodium-ion interesting precisely where India sells the most electric vehicles, in scooters, e-rickshaws and small cars, where cost per kWh and tolerance of heat matter more than a 500 km range figure. The Jaipur pilot will not answer that question for vehicles. It will, however, generate Indian field data on how a sodium-ion pack ages and behaves thermally through a Rajasthan summer, which is the kind of evidence no brochure provides.

The cell supply question nobody has answered

India's cell problem is still upstream. Under the Advanced Chemistry Cell PLI scheme the target is 50 GWh, of which 40 GWh has already been allocated in earlier rounds. The final 10 GWh was put out to global tender for grid-scale stationary storage, with bids closing on 13 October 2026 and technical bids opened on 14 October. Bidders must install 1 GWh to 4 GWh within five years, with at least 25 per cent domestic value addition in two years and 40 per cent in five.

Sodium-ion sits awkwardly in that picture. Reliance owns Faradion, and at its August 2024 annual general meeting it said it was working on commercialising sodium-ion and planned to industrialise cell production at megawatt level, alongside a 30 GWh gigafactory meant to start with pack assembly before moving back to cells. Whether the Jaipur tender can be filled with an Indian cell, or whether the container arrives from China, is the useful thing to watch.

For Bengaluru readers the shape of the idea is more relevant than the chemistry. A battery parked at a distribution transformer, soaking up rooftop solar at noon and covering the evening peak, is exactly what feeders carrying both rooftop solar and home EV charging will need. Rajasthan is paying to find out what it costs.

Sources

• Rajasthan to pilot India's first Sodium-ion battery storage system, supported by Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
• Rajasthan To Pilot India's First 250 kW Sodium-Ion Battery Storage System, SolarQuarter
• JVVNL and Global Energy Alliance Plan India's First Sodium-Ion BESS Pilot, Energetica India
• CATL's Naxtra sodium-ion passes new national safety standards, ready for mass production, CarNewsChina
• India launches global tender for 10 GWh advanced battery cell manufacturing under PLI scheme, pv magazine India
• Reliance Industries to start operations at battery gigafactory in second half of 2026, Autocar Professional