Europe’s largest battery park, which the Giga Storage company plans to set up in Rotem/Dilsen-Stokkem (Belgium), will have a capacity of 700 megawatts, 100 megawatts more than initially planned. The battery park’s name is Green Turtle.
In the meantime, the construction team has been assembled. Giga Storage agreed with Tractebel for technical support, and Stadsbader and Sweco started the preparatory studies this month. Work will begin before the summer of 2025 and will take three years.
Increased capacity
According to Giga Storage’s original plans, 720 batteries with a capacity of 600 MW (2,400 megawatt hours) will be built in Rotem on 12 hectares. After technical optimization, the capacity of the battery park was increased by 100 megawatts to 700 megawatts, resulting in a storage capacity of 2,800 megawatts hours. With this capacity, the battery park can store the average annual energy consumption of 385,000 households and return it to the electricity grid.
Green Turtle and other battery parks contribute to the energy transition. It will store a surplus of wind or solar energy when available and put that green energy back on the grid during peak times.
‘Sustainable future’
“In this way, we make more efficient use of renewable energy and prevent wind turbines or large-scale solar panel parks from being switched off to relieve the grid,” the company explains. In addition, GIGA Storage, with its battery storage, ensures more excellent stability on the electricity grid and a better balance between energy supply and demand.
Joeri Siborgs, General Manager of Giga Storage Belgium: “With this project, we are taking a concrete step toward an affordable transition to a sustainable future.”
Energy transition
The chosen location is not coincidental. The project is strategically placed next to Elia’s new 380 kV high-voltage substation and is connected to the Dutch grid. It will play a vital role in the energy transition within Belgium and Europe.
GIGA Storage wants the future battery park to blend into the environment with a natural buffer of native vegetation.
Giga Storage realizes large-scale energy storage and is ambitious to become a key player in energy storage in Europe. Although the project in Dilsen-Stokkem will be the largest battery in Europe, much more storage capacity will be needed in the coming years.
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