After the construction of a large gas-fired power plant encountered permitting issues, Engie developed the country’s largest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on its historic site in Vilvoorde, on the outskirts of Brussels.
The 320 battery modules each contain dozens of battery packs, storing large amounts of electricity. Located north of Brussels, the Vilvoorde site has been dedicated to electricity generation since the 1960s; however, it is now transitioning towards greener energy.
96,000 families
ENGIE’s future 200-megawatt battery park will be capable of meeting the electricity consumption needs of nearly 96,000 households by 2025. Last week, the first half of the new Engie battery in Vilvoorde started up. The other half of the park will also be put into use by the end of this year.
The park currently has a capacity of 100 megawatts. By the end of 2025, when the other part of the park is operational, this will be 200 MW, sufficient to store 800 megawatt-hours of electricity.
Stabilizing the grid
Engie invested €240 million in the facility, €10 million less than initially planned. The battery park, which spans approximately 3 to 3.5 hectares, is contracted for 15 years with Elia, the national grid operator, ensuring a steady income over an extended period.
The primary function of the battery park is to help stabilize the Belgian electricity grid by temporarily storing excess electricity, especially from solar and wind farms, and releasing it when demand is higher — i.e., providing flexibility and smoothing out peaks and troughs.
Other players on the market
In 2023, Engie announced its intention to build three battery parks in Flanders. Besides Vilvoorde, these include sites in Kallo (East Flanders) and Drogenbos (Flemish Brabant). In Kallo, work is underway on a 200-megawatt park, and in Drogenbos, an 80-megawatt park will be constructed.
Engie is far from the only player investing heavily in battery parks. For example, a 76-megawatt (300-megawatt-hour) battery park was recently inaugurated in Harmignies, Hainaut, and green energy producer Aspiravi, owned by around a hundred Flemish municipalities, is also installing battery containers in Brecht, Kempen. Dozens of projects totaling thousands of megawatts are in the pipeline throughout Belgium.
