Utility and power firms Axpo and energieUri will together deploy two BESS projects in Switzerland with technology provided by system integrator Fluence.
The companies announced the two battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in the Platti district of Gurtnelle, Uri canton, today (15 September).
One will have a power rating of 50MW while the other will be 8.6MW, with their energy storage capacity (MWh) not disclosed. A render of one, presumably the larger, was provided with the announcement (above).
System integrator Fluence will provide the BESS technology will Axpo’s subsidiary CKW will install and connect them to the power grid in cooperation with energieUri.
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The project will break ground imminently and commissioning is planned for the first half of 2026.
Axpo’s head of batteries and hybrid systems Frank Amend said: “The importance of large storage capacities has grown significantly as the energy transition progresses. We will continue to expand our storage activities and over the next three years aim to achieve a total installed capacity of several hundred MW, with projects planned in Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Poland, as well as Switzerland.”
Axpo has already deployed a smaller BESS in Switzerland in 2019, a 2MW/2.17MWh system, but its most significant grid-scale storage activity in recent years has been elsewhere. It commissioned a 20MW system in Sweden in February 2024 and acquired a 25MW project there the year prior. The firm also won a contract for a BESS in Poland’s 2024 capacity market (CM) auction for delivery in 2029.
Switzerland has generally been in the energy storage news headlines for notable non-lithium projects, including a 20GWh pumped hydro plant which came online in 2022 and more recently a (claimed) 1.6GWh flow battery project. However, the past year has seen BESS projects of 20MW/65MWh, from Primeo Energie, and 100-120MWh, from Avadis, progress closer to construction.
Fluence meanwhile just last week commissioned a portfolio of 200MW in Ukraine with owner DTEK Group.
