- Germany is building the largest battery storage facility in Europe.
- U.S.-based Fluence Energy’s project is five times bigger than the current flagship.
- When it’s ready, the facility will be handed over to Lusatia’s LEAG energy provider.
One of the largest battery storage facilities in the world is being built in Germany with technology from United States-based Fluence Energy.
Located in Germany’s Lusatia region, the upcoming energy storage facility will have a capacity of 4 gigawatt-hours of energy and will be able to take in a maximum power input of 1 gigawatt. That’s the equivalent of 100 million 10-watt LED lights being turned on at the same time. Or 4,000 Tesla EVs charging at the same time, all peaking at 250 kilowatts.
When it becomes operational, the system will be five times the size of what is currently the biggest battery storage project in Europe. Deployed in the United Kingdom by Engie and Sungrow, that system is designed to deliver a maximum of 200 megawatts and store 800 megawatt-hours. Meanwhile, America’s largest battery storage project, the Darden System in California, will combine 1,15 GW of power with 4.6 GWh of energy storage.
In other words, Germany’s big step forward is a significant addition to Lusatia’s LEAG Clean Power energy provider, which will use the facility as a strategic buffer for solar and wind power, as well as to stabilize the grid during peak generation and demand.
“The size of this project makes it something special,” said Thomas Brandenburg, Managing Director of LEAG Clean Power GmbH. “The technical design as a four-hour storage facility helps to stabilize the grid and enables optimal utilization of the existing grid connection.”
Fluence Energy’s Smartstack system
Photo by: Fluence Energy
The huge battery storage plant will be installed over the next few years in Jänschwalde, Germany, where it will become a core part of what LEAG calls a “GigawattFactory,” a web of large-scale wind, solar and storage facilities working together.
This particular battery storage site, called Jänschwalde 1000, will use Fluence’s Smartstack solution, which can boost energy density by up to 30% compared to traditional alternating current systems, according to the company. This is achieved by placing all the control and monitoring systems at the base, while the battery modules are placed on top–a solution that also allows energy providers to scale a storage system quickly.
