ENGIE breaks ground on 800MWh Belgian battery park

French utility company ENGIE has begun the construction of an 800MWh Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) at its Vilvoorde site in Belgium, which they are calling one of the largest battery parks in Europe.

The battery park has a 15-year contract with Elia, Belgium's national grid operator, and will be able to release power to the grid for four hours at a time.

The construction milestone follows the project's construction permit in July 2023 and its selection for capacity remuneration in October 2023.

With an installed capacity of 200MW on a 3.5-hectare site, BESS Vilvoorde will be able to store 800MWh of energy in 320 battery modules measuring 25m x 4m x 3m. Equivalent to 160,000 5kWh domestic batteries, it will cover the electricity consumption of 96,000 households.

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BESS Vilvoorde will be launched in two phases, with the commissioning of 100MW of batteries in September 2025, and a further 100MW in January 2026.

ENGIE is also developing two other BESS projects in Belgium for which the Group has already obtained permits, in Kallo (100MW/400MWh) and Drogenbos (80MW/320MWh).

Commenting in a release was Sébastien Arbola, executive vice president in charge of Flex Gen & Retail: "With the growing share of renewable energies in the energy mix, the contribution of Battery Energy Storage Systems to ensuring the reliability and security of energy systems is becoming crucial.

“Batteries will enable the absorption of peaks in renewable energy production, and the release of this energy when production is lower and consumption higher. These flexibility solutions will thus help accelerate the development of renewable energies and the energy transition."

ENGIE aims to achieve 10GW of installed battery capacity worldwide by 2030.

As of December 31, 2023, ENGIE had 1.3GW battery capacity in operation and 3.6GW secured under development.