German municipal utility Westfalen Weser is making an attempt to develop a 120 MW/280 MWh battery storage facility on the web site of a former nuclear power plant inside the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Whereas bulletins of battery energy storage initiatives developed at former coal crops normally usually are not distinctive, creating big batteries at former nuclear power plant web sites has been uncommon. Nevertheless, with its last nuclear reactors shut down in April 2023, Germany is now taking the lead on this new type of enchancment.
Municipal energy supplier Westfalen Weser has launched plans to develop a 120 MW/280 MWh battery energy storage system at a former nuclear power plant web site in Würgassen, North Rhine-Westphalia. As a result of the utility said this week, the town of Beverungen has handed over the land to Westfalen Weser.
The 1,912 MW Würgassen nuclear power plant was operated by PreussenElektra, every sooner than and thru decommissioning. Industrial operations began in 1975. The plant was shut down in 1994, after which all gasoline elements had been eradicated.
Just like decommissioned coal power crops, retired nuclear reactors are partaking areas for the occasion of grid-scale battery energy storage applications. They supply the prospect to reuse current infrastructure and grid interconnection rights.
Westfalen Weser has confirmed this, saying that the retired Würgassen plant is very acceptable for a battery storage facility in consequence it has the wished infrastructure in place, along with a transformer station and corresponding traces. The ability is scheduled for completion inside the second half of 2026, with investments totaling round €92 million ($99.6 million).
“We’re investing in energy storage to verify a protected and environment-friendly power is supplied as a result of the expertise of renewable energies continues to increase,” said Jürgen Noch, the municipal utility’s managing director.
Westfalen Weser sees totally different potential functions for energy storage eventually. These embrace the direct connection of native renewable energy mills akin to wind power and PV applications, along with the on-site consumption of saved energy. As an example, greater prospects is perhaps supplied with CO2-neutral energy from a regionally neutral grid or inexperienced hydrogen is perhaps produced, the utility said.
Resulting from this reality, Westfalen Weser expects battery energy storage functionality inside the Ostwestfalen-Lippe space to increase better than 12-fold to round 1 GWh, as a result of the nation continues to develop its battery fleet.
Present analysis from the Fraunhofer Institute for Picture voltaic Energy displays that the put-in base of battery storage virtually doubled last 12 months, up from 4.4 GW/6.5 GWh of cumulative installs by the tip of 2022 to 7.6 GW/11.2 GWh by the tip of 2023. The institute said that storage requirements in Germany will rise to better than 130 GWh by 2030.
One different large-scale battery will be deliberate on a former nuclear power plant web site within the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. PreussenElektra and its dad or mum agency, E.ON, wish to in the end develop an 800 MW/1,600 MWh storage facility, which could make it Europe’s largest battery energy storage facility.
PreussenElektra is for the time being nonetheless able to protected a permit to decommission and dismantle the Brokdorf nuclear plant. It was utilized for it in 2017. The ability plant stopped engaged on Dec. 31, 2021.
