TagEnergy to build France’s largest battery, 240MW/480MWh

Lisbon-headquartered renewable energy company TagEnergy has launched construction of France’s biggest battery energy storage system (BESS). Tesla will contribute to the project also, offering market access services and its expertise in advanced storage solutions.

The 240MW/480MWh BESS will be in the commune of Cernay-lès-Reims, in the Marne department in the northeast of France.

On-site activities commenced in April 2024 with archaeological investigations led by the Communauté Urbaine du Grand Reims, two years after initial discussions with landowners, including the Municipality of Cernay-lès-Reims.

Construction will begin in January 2025, with grid connection scheduled for late 2025. The BESS will boast a storage capacity nearly five times that of France’s current largest operational battery. It will have the capacity to store around 20% of the residential electricity needs of the Marne department, which is home to more than half a million residents.

The Cernay-lès-Reims project will also help to stabilize the grid and provide critical capacity during peak electricity demand periods. The BESS includes a 225kV connection to the national grid managed by French transmission system operator RTE.

Financing for the project comes from a banking consortium that includes Netherlands’ ABN AMRO, Germany’s NORD/LB, and French cooperative bank Caisse d’Epargne CEPAC.

“TagEnergy is proud to announce this flagship project in France, just weeks after connecting the first phase of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest wind farm in Australia and the UK’s largest transmission-connected battery”, said Franck Woitiez, CEO of TagEnergy.

The Yorkshire, UK project was energized in October and has a capacity of 100MW/200MWh.

Christophe Léonard, Managing Partner for France at TagEnergy, described the Cernay-lès-Reims project as being pivotal for the French energy transition.

“The trajectory outlined in France’s Multi-Annual Energy Plan, currently under public consultation, calls for a two-and-a-half-fold increase in wind capacity and a four-fold increase in solar capacity by 2035. This transformation requires significant development of flexibility solutions. Alongside demand-side flexibility, battery storage is set to become a cornerstone of this transition, and TagEnergy is committed to deploying this technology while accelerating its solar development activities in France in 2025.”

TagEnergy has been in operation since 2019 and has a presence in Portugal, France, Australia, Spain, and the UK. The company is controlled by TagHolding, a joint venture controlled by the Impala SAS Group, Exor N.V, and TagTeam Holding, the holding company for TagEnergy’s manager-shareholders. Other shareholders include Mirova and Omnes.

According to its website, TagEnergy has more than 6 GW of assets in operation across all its locations.