Steag renewables subsidiary Iqony and Fluence will deploy a 50MW/200MWh BESS project in Germany, part of which will be contracted under a PPA with train network operator Deutsche Bahn.
The project will be built at the Duisburg-Walsum gas-fired power plant, part of the portfolio of Steag Group, a utility and independent power producer (IPP). It is expected to enter commercial operations in May 2026.
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Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Energie has agreed a ‘Power Storage Agreement (PSA)’ contract with Iqony which will see it use 35MW/140MWh of the project’s capacity – 70% – for five years upon operation. DB Energie manages the 8,000km rail power grid which supplies electricity to Deutsche Bahn’s 20,000 trains, with the train operator aiming for climate neutrality by 2040.
Christian Karalis, co-head of business development and responsible for the battery storage project for Iqony, pointed out that most battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Germany have a 2-hour duration.
“With tailor-made ‘Power Storage Agreements’ (PSA), Iqony offers partners the opportunity for the first time to contract storage capacity for their portfolio without having to own the assets themselves. We are also responding to the emerging need for longer storage periods, which are aimed in particular at optimising green portfolios,” Karalis said.
Further BESS projects are being planned at Steag power plant locations, the announcement added.
After a relatively quiet period up until 2021, Germany has quickly become one of Europe’s busiest BESS markets and could become its largest by deployments with a massive 215GW solar PV target for 2030 driving the need for flexible capacity.
Fluence has been among the most active system integrators in providing projects there. In the past month, a 100MW/200MWh project it provided for a group of Swiss and German investment groups was inaugurated, and it also won a contract to provide what was claimed to be Germany’s largest solar-plus-storage project for IPP Statkraft.
Iqony recently tied up with battery analytics firm Accure for monitoring of six BESS projects in Germany, of 15MW each.
