Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW), the Germany-based energy firm, has announced that its power plant site in Philippsburg is set to have a 400MW/800MWh large scale BESS, if approved by the municipal council.
The new large scale BESS, if approved, would be able to meet the needs of 100,000 households by capturing excess renewable energy from the grid from sources such as wind or solar and feed it into the grid again when needed.
The Philippsburg Energy Park houses a current substation that was installed by system operator TransnetBW as part of the Ultranet direct current transmission line, which will make wind power from northern Germany available in the southwest of the country.
It also houses two nuclear power plant blocks that have been under work to be dismantled since 2017 and 2020. The large scale BESS would be built separately from this work.
EnBW, which has around 30,000 employees, said the project is still in an early stage, with the building permit and its final investment pending, but the large scale BESS could be up and running by the end of 2027.
TransnetBW would be able to provide the grid connection with the capacity to store and release energy in mid-2027.
Stefan Martus, mayor of Philippsburg, said, “Philippsburg has been one of the most important energy locations in the whole of Germany for half a century – and our town is set to continue to play this outstanding role as an anchor point and huge storage facility for sustainable power generation.”
Image: The Philippsburg Energy Park, where EnBW plans to have a BESS next to the TransnetBW converter. Credit: EnBW.
