BayWa r.e. sells Netherlands project to tank storage firm Vopak

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The sale of the project in northern Netherlands was done via the company’s GroenLeven subsidiary. The project will connect to the high-voltage transmission grid of transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT.

Vopak is a tank storage company which has also expanded into energy transition segments such as green hydrogen and ammonia, low carbon fuels and feedstocks and BESS while also investing in more novel long-duration energy storage (LDES) companies.

The company has participated in fundraising rounds by CO2 battery company Energy Dome, Dutch flow battery company Elestor and is also an investor in BESS optimisation firm Enspired.

The Dutch project from BayWa r.e. is its first move into long-term ownership of large-scale BESS we are aware of. The company said on its website it is developing BESS assets with up to 4-hour duration as well as 8-hours or more, which could be BESS or other technologies.

The large-scale energy storage market in the Netherlands has progressed substantially in the past two years. In mid-2023, utility Eneco called for the government to do more to support the sector in the face of Belgium’s far superior progress.

Grid fee reforms the following year appear to have improved the business case enough that the year since has seen numerous large-scale projects progress. Since February, large-scale BESS have been completed by S4 Energy and RWE while many more gigawatts have completed financing and entered construction – see all our coverage here.

BayWa r.e. is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and is part of the BayWa conglomerate. BayWa r.e’s head of storage Julian Gerstner spoke to Energy-Storage.news last year about changing dynamics for BESS project development in Germany (Premium access).

Regulators in Germany are considering two big reforms that could improve the business case for BESS, while developer-operator Green Flexibility has announced its first major project.

Investor Return has started construction on a 100MW/200MWh BESS project in the Netherlands, with energy storage technology supplied by system integrator Alfen and power company Vattenfall enlisted as long-term offtaker.

A trio of major announcements in the grid-scale BESS market in Chile, with Canadian Solar winning a delivery contract from Colbun, Metlen Energy & Metals selling a solar-plus-storage portfolio to Glenfarne, and Atlas Renewable Energy securing financing for a project.

US non-lithium battery technology companies Eos Energy Enterprises and Unigrid have announced partnerships to deploy their tech abroad, striking deals in the UK and India respectively.

With over 9GWh of operational grid-scale BESS (battery energy storage system) capacity in the UK – and a strong pipeline – it’s worth identifying the regional hotspots and how the landscape may evolve in the future.