Bayernwerk AG has inaugurated a 100 MW/200 MWh battery energy storage facility in Arzberg, located in the Wunsiedel district of Bavaria, Germany.
Developed by Switzerland-based MW Storage AG, the project has been backed by a consortium of investors including Bayernwerk, MW Storage Fund, Swiss asset manager Reichmuth Infrastructure, and German power producer Zukunftsenergie Nordostbayern GmbH (ZENOB). Reichmuth Infrastructure is the majority shareholder in the project.
This new facility, one of the largest in Germany, is designed to store locally generated renewable energy, particularly from wind and solar sources, and feed it back into the grid. The system comprises a substation with two large transformers, 24 smaller transformers, and 24 battery units.
With an efficiency rate of 87%, the storage system can store energy produced by ten 3.5 MW wind turbines for up to six hours or a 10 MW solar park for up to 20 hours. When discharged, it has the capacity to provide electricity for about 80,000 residents of the Wunsiedel district for approximately twelve hours.
The project highlights the growing importance of energy storage infrastructure in Germany, which remains in the early stages of development.
According to the Federal Network Agency, large battery storage systems will need to reach a total capacity of at least 23.7 GW by 2045, which would require the construction of 237 facilities of Arzberg's size.
