ENGIE builds large-scale battery farm at Maxima power plant in Lelystad

ENGIE has made a final investment decision for a large-scale battery park on the site of the Maxima power plant in Lelystad. The investment involves almost 50 million euros. The battery park will come into operation in 2025. With a capacity of 35 MW and a capacity of 100 MWh, the batteries can provide electricity for 3 hours at full power.

The Maxima power plant site is perfectly situated for large-scale battery storage. The site itself already has an energy hub with a 900 MW gas-fired power plant and a 32 MW solar park. Thanks to the new battery park, sustainably generated energy can be stored locally and released at a later time. This plays an important role in the reliable integration of renewable energy sources into the power grid.

Thanks to the existing energy hub, the connections are also heavy enough to connect the batteries to the energy grid. This will enable ENGIE to combine the generation and storage of sustainable energy with the electricity production of the Maxima power plant to ensure security of supply and to meet the need for greater flexibility in the energy system.

Essential in energy transition

The energy mix of the future creates a complex energy landscape. Many different factors must simultaneously manage to balance the supply and demand of electricity, and the infrastructure must be able to support transport for decentralized generation and consumption. The current energy system is inadequate for this. This leads to undesirable consequences, such as connection stops for businesses and new residential areas and switching off (curtailing) wind and solar farms. Battery storage is essential to avoid such consequences in the future.

Harry Talen, site manager of the Maxima plant: "We are very pleased with this step and look forward to developing the battery park. However, energy transition in the Netherlands requires much bigger steps, which we at ENGIE are also keen to take. Because the more wind and solar energy in the Netherlands in the coming years, the more storage capacity the Dutch energy system will need. However, current conditions ensure that the larger investments are made outside the Netherlands. To realize larger battery farms, a solution to the very high tariffs for grid transportation must first be found. Taxing batteries as energy consumers will inevitably limit their use, hindering their potential to increase the reliability and security of supply of the electricity grid. We are happy to remain in dialogue to find solutions to this.''