First-of-its-kind sodium-ion battery plant to open in Sacramento's Metro Air Park

Sacramento leaders gathered Wednesday to celebrate the announcement that Peak Energy will build a new sodium-ion grid storage facility in Sacramento's Metro Air Park. 

Peak Energy calls it a first-of-its-kind facility in the nation that will pave the future for low-cost, giga-scale grid storage, which will produce enough energy annually to power four million homes and foster grid resilience. 

"We're launching our first giga-factory here. We'll be producing four gigawatt hours of large-scale grid batteries here every year, which will be deployed into the electricity system not only here in Sacramento with SMUD, but all over the country," said co-founder Cameron Dales. 

Dales says they searched across the nation for the right place to put their new plant. They chose Sacramento not only because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, which is where the company was founded, but because of the highly skilled talent pool in the region and the ease of access to their clients.

"Today, the region takes another major step upon being really the clean energy capital of America," said Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA). 

Peak Energy's manufacturing plant is built to ease growing pressure on the grid with clean, renewable energy that helps ditch carbon and reduce emissions. 

"This is a blow to the climate change threats. This is a move towards business-aggressive technology to address carbon," said Barry Broome with the Greater Sacramento Economic Council. 

The facility represents a more than $70 million investment in Sacramento County, a seven-figure tax revenue and about 240 new jobs. 

"These are jobs that are accessible to people in our neighborhoods. One of the things we're doing right now is retraining Blue Diamond workers who got laid off to work in the battery space," said Broome. "What I love about battery technology is it can produce a steady, high-wage job flow for people with underserved backgrounds if they're willing to get some basic technical skills, and they are."

Still, the buzz about battery plants is not always positive, especially from those who neighbor them. 

The site sits in the industrial park near the Sacramento International Airport but is less than a mile from a Natomas neighborhood. 

Peak Energy says its sodium-ion battery plant is different than the often controversial lithium-ion plants, which have stirred up local backlash in communities like Vacaville and forced evacuations in Moss Landing after a significant plant fire in 2025. 

"It's a much simpler, safer, more resilient technology," said Dales. 

Dales adds that the batteries are not nearly as flammable as their sister-technology, the lithium-ion battery. 

"It's a different set of chemicals in the battery. So it's based on sodium, which is salt, instead of lithium. The structure of those chemicals in the battery itself are just much tougher. It's harder to get them to break apart, catch fire, and basically cause a safety problem," said Dales. 

At their Natomas site, Peak Energy will manufacture and store large, 30-foot-long batteries. 

"To basically improve the resiliency of our electric grid, reduce its cost, and ultimately avoid having to build lots and lots of new power plants because we have enough capacity that can be augmented with batteries," said Dales. 

SMUD is a key local partner for Peak Energy. The utility says introducing more renewable energy sources will drive bills down for customers. 

"As a region, we are gonna be a leader in achieving zero carbon. Showing the rest of the country, the electricity industry, this is how we get it done," said Dave Tamayo, president of SMUD's board of directors. 

Peak Energy also recently scored a partnership with General Motors. 

They plan to have the site up and running by the end of 2027.