Construction work on RWE’s largest battery storage project in Germany to date is making swift progress. With 690 battery blocks, a storage capacity of 235 megawatt hours and an output of 220 megawatts (MW), RWE Generation is building one of the largest battery storage systems in Germany. The batteries are being installed at the RWE power plant sites in Neurath and Hamm.
In Neurath (80 MW, 84 MWh), the firsts of 250 battery blocks on an area of 7,500 m² were recently installed after the foundations and underground cabling had been put in place. The blocks each contain eight modules with lithium-ion cells. In addition to the batteries, the necessary grid infrastructure will also be installed over the coming months. This includes high-voltage transformers as a link between 110-kV grid and battery.
Karl-Heinz Stauten, Head of Power Plants, RWE Power: ”It is impressive to see how rapidly the battery storage system is taking shape. In just a few months’ time, one of the largest battery storage facilities in Germany will be put into operation here at Neurath, an energy location steeped in tradition, together with the sister project in Hamm. This is good news in terms of the structural change in the Rhenish mining area and a reliable electricity supply in an increasingly green world of energy.”
From the second half of 2024, the battery storage system is to provide control energy for balancing the electricity grid within seconds of being called upon. This means that the system will take out excess power from the grid and feed it back in when it is needed in order to keep the grid frequency at the required level. In addition, the storage facility will be deployed on the wholesale market, with electricity being stored when prices are low and returned when they are high. The system will also be virtually networked with RWE power plants in Germany, which will make it possible to control whether the storage units work alone or in conjunction with other power plants to supply balancing energy. The new battery storage system will thus optimise the dispatch of RWE’s German power plant fleet across different technologies. RWE is benefiting from many years of expertise in the energy storage sector. The company has the capability to provide detailed planning, modelling as well as system integration and commissioning of the project in-house and under one roof.
Battery storage@RWE
As a driver of the energy transition, RWE develops, builds and operates battery storage systems in Europe, Australia and the US. Currently, the company operates battery storages with an overall capacity of around 500 MW and is implementing battery storage projects with a capacity of over 900 MW worldwide. RWE is planning to expand its battery storage business to six gigawatts worldwide by 2030. At the start of 2023, RWE commissioned its megabattery in Lingen and Werne with a capacity of 117 MW. In March, the company acquired UK solar and battery developers JBM Solar with an advanced battery project development pipeline of 2.3 gigawatts. RWE is planning, building and operating innovative combined solar and storage plants in its German opencast mining sites. In addition, the company has won the bid for a long-duration battery storage system (50 megawatts / 400 MWh) in Australia.