Siemens to add battery storage as part of gas power plant overhaul

By John Parnell
May 30, 2019
LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
The SGT-800 industrial gas turbine installed at the BASF site. Source: Siemens.

Siemens will install a battery storage system as part of the overhaul of a gas power plant for chemicals giant BASF.

As well as replacing the gas turbines at the industrial power plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, a SIESTART battery system has been installed to provide blackstart capabilities. Siemens will also provide a 15-year service contract.

“Adapting the new gas turbine to the existing plant and carrying out the other necessary renovations require complex individual planning and extensive engineering expertise,” said Thorbjörn Fors, CEO of the Service Distributed Generation and Oil & Gas within Siemens Gas and Power. “Siemens is one of the few suppliers on the market with all the manufacturing and engineering skills needed to reliably implement such a demanding project.”

The battery system will be provided by Fluence, the joint venture between AES and Siemens. The company said BASF will benefit from blackstart capabilities, islanding, if required, and a more reliable power supply.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The site at Schwarzheide currently has two gas turbines for power and two Siemens steam turbines providing steam for BASF manufacturing and processing activities. BASF has ordered one efficient 57MW gas turbine, which Siemens says will reduce both costs and carbon.

“We are pleased to work with Siemens for the modernization of our combined cycle power plant. We continue our long-term partnership with this project,” said Jürgen Fuchs, Chairman of the Management Board of BASF Schwarzheide GmbH.

11 November 2025
San Diego, USA
The 2024 Summit included innovative new features including a ‘Crash Course in Battery Asset Management’, Ask-Me-Anything formats and debate-style sessions. You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players again in 2025 from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.

Read Next

October 23, 2025
ARENA has committed AU$25 million to support startup Relectrify’s world-first ‘inverterless’ battery energy storage system (BESS).
October 22, 2025
Recurrent Energy has closed a construction financing for an energy storage project in Arizona. Meanwhile, Cypress Creek Renewables has reached financial close for its solar-plus-storage project in Colorado.
October 22, 2025
A roundup of large-scale European BESS project news, with Principia completing a project in Greece, Repono buying one in Romania, Kyon choosing optimisers for two in Germany and Voltalia and NGEN targeting Portugal.
Premium
October 22, 2025
John Zahurancik, Americas president at Fluence, discussed industry trends and policy directions with ESN Premium at this year’s RE+.
October 22, 2025
What is claimed to be the world’s largest industrial thermal energy storage ‘heat battery’ has gone into operation in California, US.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter