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Battery storage in Saxony: The lithium-polymer batteries installed there have a total electrical output of two megawatts
Photo: Sylvio Dittrich / IMAGO
The Bavarian company Eco Stor is planning a battery storage system in Saxony-Anhalt, which it says will be one of the largest in Europe. The storage facility in Förderstedt, a district of Staßfurt, is expected to be able to store around 2025 megawatt hours of electricity after its completion in 600. That's what Managing Director Georg Gallmetzer said. Theoretically, 31,250 households could be supplied with electricity for 24 hours.
According to the market master data register, the currently largest battery storage facility in Germany, which is already in operation, has a storage capacity of 72 megawatt hours. According to media reports, the largest battery storage facility in Europe is located in England, is operated by Tesla and has a storage capacity of 196 megawatt hours. At the end of the year, Eco Stor also plans to put a storage facility with 207 megawatt hours into operation in Schleswig-Holstein.
Currently, many large-scale storage facilities in Europe are being planned by various companies, Gallmetzer said. Especially in the field of renewable energies, wind and solar power, the time-delayed feed-in of electricity into the grids makes sense.
Saxony-Anhalt has a locational advantage
The location in Saxony-Anhalt has proven to be very suitable because there is a large substation there. It makes sense to set up a storage facility where there is a collection point for as much renewable energy as possible. According to the company, it plans to invest around 250 million euros. Eco Stor is a subsidiary of the Norwegian electricity company A Energie.
In principle, such huge battery storage systems do not lead to electricity becoming cheaper, said Eco-Stor Managing Director Gallmetzer. However, prices would become more predictable over the course of the day. Although it is a mega-project, a storage capacity of 600 megawatt hours is only a drop in the ocean.
Saxony-Anhalt's Minister of Economic Affairs, Sven Schulze (CDU), welcomed the company's announcement. The country is at the forefront of the expansion of renewable energies, and storage options are an important building block here.
jso/dpa