The market for battery storage systems is growing at pace, with experts predicting Germany’s installed storage capacity to reach as much as 8.6 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2026. RheinEnergie and SMA Altenso are joining forces with the aim of gaining a foothold in this segment and rapidly expanding storage infrastructure. By entering into a strategic partnership, the Cologne-based power supply and service company and the international system integrators from Kassel/Niestetal are looking to realize projects with a total output of several hundred megawatts (MW). The partners’ first joint project is a large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) with a usable capacity of 64 MWh and output of 24.5 MW that is set to be built in Einbeck, Lower Saxony, over the coming months.
“We operate as a holistic solution provider specializing in the integration of complex energy systems and already have a successful track record on system solutions for BESS projects around the world with a total output of more than 1.5 GW,” said Burkhard Söhngen, Managing Director at Altenso. “By teaming up with RheinEnergie, we now have an experienced partner who we can work with to deliver a key contribution to Germany’s renewable energy supply. I am convinced that SMA’s proven technology will help pave the way to a sustainable energy supply by providing an efficient means of integrating renewable energy into the utility grid and bolstering system stability.”
“By marketing electricity from battery storage systems, we are moving into a new business field that is set to expand rapidly in the future. Since summer 2024, we have already been operating a battery storage system very successfully in the communities of Lärz and Rechlin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which is home to our largest PV farm so far. We are now looking to step up our efforts here, and are confident that establishing ourselves in this business field at an early stage will give us a key competitive edge. I look forward to partnering with SMA Altenso, as the company is one of the world’s leading system integrators and has a wealth of project experience and expertise in the field of renewable energies,” said Stephan Segbers, Chief Operating Officer at RheinEnergie.
Operational management to lie with RheinEnergie Trading
The partnership between Altenso and RheinEnergie will center on the joint development and implementation of BESS projects throughout Germany—in combination with both existing and newly planned wind farms or PV systems (co-locations) as well as dedicated locations close to electrical substations. To ensure efficient collaboration and scalable implementation, the partners have defined clear roles for project development, implementation and operation that can be flexibly applied to other projects as well. Altenso, a wholly owned subsidiary of SMA Solar Technology AG (SMA), is heading up the development, construction and maintenance of the large-scale battery storage systems as a technology partner and holistic solution provider in the field of renewable energies. RheinEnergie Trading, RheinEnergie’s trading subsidiary, will take on the operational management of the battery storage systems.
Construction underway on first project in Lower Saxony
The partners’ first joint BESS project will be built in the coming months on a 3,000 square meter plot at the industrial park in Einbeck, a municipality in the district of Northeim in Lower Saxony. Construction work on the large-scale battery storage system with a usable capacity of 64 MWh and 24.5 MW output is already underway and is slated for completion in early 2026.
