The Volkswagen Group, through its Elli charging and energy brand, is set to enter the large-scale stationary energy storage market. Elli will collaborate with partners to develop, construct and operate these systems, marking the company’s expansion into a new business area to broaden its range of energy service solutions.
Elli’s initial projects will feature of up to 350MW of capacity and 700MWh of storage capacity. The first of these storage projects could begin in Germany as early as 2025. These projects would almost double Germany’s current total storage capacity, which stands at approximately 1GWh.
The demand for energy storage solutions is expected to grow significantly in Europe, with projections indicating a 100-fold increase in Germany alone. In 2023, approximately 10,500GWh of renewable electricity in Germany was not used due to insufficient storage options, which could have powered over 3.2 million electric vehicles for a year.
According to the Fraunhofer Institute, more than 100GWh of battery storage will be needed by 2030 to manage the volatility of renewable energy sources.
Strategic impact
Elli’s industrial energy storage systems will be used to supply customers and participate in electricity market arbitrage, and will support the transformation of Elli into a smart energy company, contributing to the stabilization and efficiency of power grids.
By developing these large-scale storage systems, Elli aims to play a role in meeting growing energy storage demands and supporting the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid.
“Germany and Europe need sufficient storage solutions to meet the increasing demand and to compensate for the volatile feed-in of renewable energies. Our investment in stationary battery storage systems is therefore a significant contribution to the sustainable transformation of the energy supply,” said Volkswagen Group board member for technology Thomas Schmall.
“We see high financial potential in this business area and the opportunity to develop Elli into a holistic energy provider in Europe,” said Giovanni Palazzo, CEO, Elli.