Wind turbines along the North Sea coast often have to be throttled back. Our 740-megawatt battery farm north of Bremen will help change that.
September 1, 2026. We’ve reached the next milestone: About 15 months after receiving the connection approval from grid operator TenneT, we were able to finalize the connection setup agreement (AEV) last week for our battery storage facility in Alfstedt, Lower Saxony. In addition, the planning and permitting process is in full swing:
In recent weeks, in coordination with the municipality, we have initiated the urban land-use planning process as well as the environmental impact assessment procedure. The next steps include a kick-off meeting with representatives from the Trade Supervisory Office and the ordering of so-called “long-lead items”—that is, components with long lead times.
Based on the current planning status, we expect construction to begin in late summer 2027. The 740-megawatt facility in the Rothenburg (Wümme) district is therefore expected to be connected to the grid in the first half of 2029. It is urgently needed to store surplus green electricity and to fully utilize the potential of the region’s wind farms.
Recently, the problem of so-called curtailment in the north has worsened because numerous new wind farms have been connected to the grid, while there remains a lack of storage capacity and power lines to the south. Especially during the windy spring months, transmission system operators were therefore forced time and again to curtail wind farms along the coasts to ensure grid stability.
Location: Alfstedt (Lower Saxony)
Capacity: 740 megawatts
Planned commissioning: 2029