As of: February 20, 2024, 12:20 p.m
By: Bert Brosch
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Mini predecessor: EcoStor has already built seven of these “small” battery storage systems.
© EcoStor
If the energy transition is to succeed, electricity from sun and wind must be stored, and on a large scale.
A Kirchheim company is building the largest battery storage systems in Europe.
Kirchheim - By 2035, the German electricity supply should be climate-neutral, i.e. based almost entirely on renewable energies.
In order to coordinate the main energy suppliers, wind and photovoltaics, huge battery storage units are required.
The company EcoStor from Kirchheim builds and operates the largest storage systems in Europe – if everything goes well.
The company in Sonnenallee can be described as a classic “hidden champion”.
The subsidiary of the Norwegian “Eco Stor AS” was founded in 2021 by the Munich-based Georg Gallmetzer, Johanna Jungbauer and Robert Bürger and the Norwegian Trygve Burchardt.
The goal from the start was to develop and build turnkey electricity storage systems.
Since then, seven “small” storage facilities with a total of 108 MWh of storage capacity have been implemented with 49 employees, three of which are in Bavaria.
On average, these have a capacity of 8 to 24 MWh.
“We sold these systems to operators, including electricity suppliers,” explains EcoStor sales manager Tobias Badelt.
Now it's about huge storage systems with an output of up to 300 MW and a capacity of 600 MWh - this could theoretically supply over 31,000 households with electricity for 24 hours.
EcoStor sales manager Tobias Badelt explains the company's plans.
© bb
In Germany, electricity is sent through the cables at a frequency of 50 Hertz.
If possible, this should always be constant so that there are no problems for the end user, explains Badelt.
However, if a lot of power is being used on a cold day or the wind is blowing hard and the rotors are generating a lot of power, then a lot more or less power will flow and this frequency will fluctuate.
“For many years, fluctuations could be regulated by switching coal, gas or nuclear power plants on or off - but there are fewer and fewer of them.
So we need another regulator so that we don't have to switch off the rotors: namely battery storage.
We are building it in the largest dimension in Europe to date,” says Badelt.
Without a lot of large battery storage, the energy transition is impossible because the wind doesn't blow constantly and the sun doesn't shine at night.
In order to keep the power grid stable, storage is needed.
From the very beginning, Eco Stor GmbH has relied on “first-life” lithium-based batteries, i.e. brand new ones.
So far, memory from the Korean manufacturer Samsung has been installed.
“Our new, large systems are being built and equipped by the Chinese company BYD, because unfortunately there are no European or even German battery manufacturers yet,” Badelt regrets.
These batteries are installed as cells in so-called packs and then stacked in hundreds on top of and next to each other in a large shipping container and shipped.
Many of these containers plus converters, medium and high voltage, cabling, energy management system and construction work result in a block with 50 MW of power.
Six of these blocks are planned for the large projects.
The mega battery storage facility in Förderstedt in Saxony-Anhalt will have 600 MWh of storage capacity and is scheduled to be built this year.
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“We are currently planning three very large plants: one in Saxony-Anhalt, one in Schleswig-Holstein and one in Rhineland-Palatinate,” says Badelt.
They therefore have a capacity of 200 to 600 MWh.
The large ones required an area of 700 by 150 meters and cost 250 million euros.
EcoStor wants to build and operate these mega storage systems itself.
In order for this to be possible, they need an electricity hub, ideally a high-voltage line and an area to buy or rent long-term.
“It also depends on the approval of the regional authorities, because the cooling of the containers is not completely silent.
In addition, the electricity companies charge different network fees nationwide, from which battery storage is exempt until 2029, for use as well as construction cost subsidies.
The Bayernwerke demand by far the most, which is why major projects in Bavaria are a bit tough.”
The first mega storage facility with a capacity of 600 MWh, which will be the largest in Europe, will be built in Wengerohr near Wittlich in Rhineland-Palatinate, and EcoStor also plans to begin construction in Förderstedt in Saxony-Anhalt this year.