Australia just activated the world's longest seawater battery installation — a 420-kilometer coastal energy storage system built into existing seawall infrastructure along South Australia's Spencer Gulf, using seawater electrochemistry to store surplus solar electricity from Australia's outback.
The Spencer Gulf Seawater Battery Network installs sodium-ion battery modules directly into coastal seawall structures at 12-kilometer intervals along 420 kilometers of South Australian coastline, drawing on freely available seawater as the sodium source. Each installation stores 50 megawatt-hours in modules sealed within reinforced seawall compartments — invisible from the surface, requiring no additional land. Combined capacity reaches 1,750 megawatt-hours, providing evening backup for all of South Australia's 1.8 million residents.
Seawater batteries require no lithium, no cobalt, and no rare materials. Manufacturing cost of 8 dollars per kilowatt-hour makes this the least expensive grid storage technology ever deployed in Australia. South Australia previously relied on natural gas for evening backup generation, which this network eliminates entirely.
Source: Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Government of South Australia, CSIRO Australia, 2025
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