RWE is further expanding its battery storage business worldwide. The company has now started construction of its first utility-scale Dutch battery storage project with an installed power capacity of 35 megawatts (MW) and a storage capacity of 41 megawatt-hours (MWh). A total of 110 lithium-ion battery racks will be installed at RWE’s biomass plant in Eemshaven on an area of around 3,000 square metres. The storage system is planned to supply control energy and to operate in wholesale markets as of 2025.
The battery project is an important step towards a portfolio of innovative flexible assets to optimally integrate the weather-related fluctuating power generation profile of the “OranjeWind” offshore wind farm, which is currently in development, into the Dutch energy system. In 2022, RWE had secured the implementation of the offshore project off the Dutch coast with a system integration concept that combines the wind farm with the generation of green hydrogen and other solutions such as battery storage.
Roger Miesen, CEO RWE Generation and Country Chair for the Netherlands: “This construction start makes me very proud. RWE’s first utility-scale battery storage project in the Netherlands is a big step towards a reliable electricity supply in an increasingly green national energy system. Thus, we are actively contributing towards stabilising the Dutch electricity grid.”
The battery storage facility will be able to operate at its installed capacity of 35 MW for over an hour. Theoretically, this is sufficient to charge around 800 EVs. The system has been designed to be virtually coupled across technologies with RWE power plants in the Netherlands. This enables optimal management of balancing energy, which can be supplied by selected units either individually or as a group.
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 storage systems with an overall capacity of around 500 MW and has more than 1 GW of battery storage projects under construction worldwide. RWE is planning to expand its battery storage business to 6 gigawatts worldwide by 2030. At the start of 2023, RWE commissioned a first megabattery in Lingen and Werne (both Germany) with a capacity of 117 MW. A 220 MW project is currently under construction at two locations in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2023, the company acquired UK solar and battery developer 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. In the US, the company connected its first utility-scale battery storage system to the California electric grid in 2023. The 137 MW Fifth Standard facility—the company’s largest storage facility to date – collocates with a 150-MW solar PV array in Fresno County, California.
A graphic for media use (credit: RWE) is available at the RWE Media Centre.