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Germany Breaks Ground on Record-Scale Grid Batteries at Former Nuclear Sites

Analysts say the buildout targets hourly balancing rather than prolonged 'Dunkelflauten'.

Overview

  • RWE has begun building a roughly 700 MWh battery at the former Gundremmingen nuclear plant, a €230 million project described as the country’s largest now under construction.
  • Saxony-Anhalt marked the groundbreaking in Förderstedt for an ECO STOR facility rated at 300 MW and over 716 MWh, with state energy minister Armin Willingmann attending.
  • EnBW plans an 800 MWh installation at Philippsburg that, once commissioned, could overtake current projects, with timing indicated for late 2027 or early 2028.
  • Germany operates about 3.2 GWh of large-scale batteries today versus projections of up to 180 GWh needed by 2045, underscoring a substantial scale-up gap.
  • Economists highlight market and grid constraints including a single national bidding zone, frequent negative prices and wind curtailment, plus a backlog of more than 600 grid-connection requests for batteries.