Construction of Poland’s largest energy storage facility begins

Construction of the largest energy storage facility in Poland – and one of the biggest of its kind anywhere in Europe – has begun. The site is intended to become a key part of Poland’s transition towards greener forms of energy, storing surplus power produced by renewables.

The facility is being built by Poland’s largest power company, state-owned PGE, in Żarnowiec, northern Poland. The location positions it close to PGE’s first offshore wind farm, which is still being built in the Baltic Sea, and Poland’s biggest pumped-storage hydroelectricity plant, also run by PGE.

“We are beginning construction on the largest energy storage project in Poland and one of the largest in Europe,” declared PGE’s CEO Dariusz Marzec at the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday.

The facility will have a capacity of around 981 megawatt-hours (MWh) and is expected to be operational by 2027. The cost of the investment is around 1.5 billion zloty (€353 million).

Batteries for the facility will be produced in Poland at Europe’s largest battery plant, operated by LG Energy Solution, part of the South Korean LG Group, near the city of Wrocław.

Energy minister Miłosz Motyka celebrated the project as “a symbol of our country’s modern energy transformation”. He said it would “strengthen Poland’s energy security, lower energy costs for Polish families and domestic businesses, and ensure stable electricity supplies regardless of weather conditions”.

Poland has rapidly expanded its use of renewables – especially wind and solar – in recent years. Their share of the energy mix reached a record 29% last year, up from around 9% in 2015.

However, because renewable generation is dependent upon weather conditions, sometimes too much power is produced and at other times too little. That means the grid operator sometimes has to order renewable sources to be disconnected.

Climate and environment minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska noted that the government is seeking to “expand the network of energy storage facilities at every level”, including a goal for 200,000 Polish homes to have their own storage facilities by the end of the current parliamentary term in 2027.

Coal remains Poland’s main power source, generating almost 57% of electricity last year, by far the highest proportion in Europe. However, the country’s monthly share of electricity generated by coal fell below 50% for the first time in April this year.

As part of its move towards cleaner energy, Poland is also aiming to establish at least two nuclear power plants, as well as small modular nuclear reactors.

Main image credit: Ministerstwo Energii (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)