Swiss Electric s energy storage projects

Axpo commissioned its BESS in February this year while utility Thurplus commissioned a 3MW system in September last year. But Switzerland was the location for one of the largest energy storage projects commissioned in recent years, a 20GWh pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) unit which started operations in June 2022 in the Canton of Valais.

In this way, the system will help to stabilise the Swiss power grid. With this large-scale storage system, we are making a decisive contribution to the implementation of Switzerland's Energy Strategy 2050, which aims to convert 100 per cent of its energy supply to renewable energies by 2050.

One important pillar of this strategy is the further development of electricity storage capacity in Switzerland. In the next years, three large-scale pumped hydro storage power plants will be connected to the grid. The first, the Limmern pumped storage plant (1 GW), should become operational in 2016.

In Kappel, in the canton of Solothurn, we will install one of the largest battery storage systems in Switzerland with a total capacity of 65 megawatt hours. Primeo Energie will use the stand-alone storage system to make energy more flexible and store electricity temporarily and withdraw it again when it is needed.

We are delighted to be taking a significant step in the Swiss energy transition together with Primeo Energie. In Kappel, in the canton of Solothurn, we will install one of the largest battery storage systems in Switzerland with a total capacity of 65 megawatt hours.

Several projects are currently under way in China and the US, totalling 915 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy storage. The company's first commercial grid-scale project using its proprietary gravity energy storage technology in Rudong, near Shanghai, was connected to the grid in December 2023 and can store up to 100 MWh.