German transmission companies had connection requests for 226 GW of big batteries at turn of year

Data published by German utilities regulator the Federal Network Agency reveal the nation had 262 operational, 1 MW-plus battery energy storage systems (BESS) for a total of 1.75 GW at the start of 2025.
The organization’s market master data register also indicated a further 287 large-scale projects, with a total scale of almost 2,385 MW being planned.
That 4 GW or so could be just the tip of the iceberg, however, with Germany’s four electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) telling pv magazine they had registered 650 grid connection requests for 1 MW-plus battery storage systems on Jan. 1, 2025. Those applications relate to around 226 GW of BESS projects, up from 161 GW of storage-related grid connection requests in fall 2024, showing that the battery tsunami is gathering.
Dortmund-based TSO Amprion alone has 230 grid connection requests, for 76 GW of BESS facilities. Peer 50 Hertz has 220 requests, for around 90 GW of battery projects; Tennet’s 160 requests amount to 48 GW of batteries; and Transnet BW is handling 40 requests for 12 GW of big batteries.
Some of the projects in the queue may fall by the wayside, with the TSOs stating, “The applications are mostly at a very early stage.” While some of the storage projects are planned to take shape from 2025 to 2027, the majority are set to be operational in the year before 2030. Battery developers can also submit several requests for a project across TSO grid areas, encouraged by the “first come, first served” nature of grid connection allocation.
DSO figures
With Germany hosting several electricity DSOs – which deal in moving electrons from substations to individual properties – and with energy storage project developers able to request grid connection from DSOs instead of TSOs, the overall energy storage picture becomes muddied.
pv magazine asked Germany’s some of the larger DSOs about grid connection requests from 1 MW-plus BESS sites but did not receive figures from all of them.
E.On indicated it had received more than 2,000 grid-connection requests from almost 100 GW of battery projects, with a large number from the network of its Westnetz subsidiary, in western Germany. A spokesperson said the Westnetz grid was the subject of around 700 grid connection requests for batteries between 10 MW and 150 MW in size. There is a focus on 50 MW to 100 MW sites in that network with some projects already operating or under construction.
The EWE DSO reported a “mid-three-digit” number of connection requests for 10 MW-plus battery projects with a spokesperson adding, “Our observation shows, however, that many operators are asking for short-term grid connections.”
The Rheinnetz DSO, by contrast, said it was handling only a low double-digit number of connection requests, one of which related to a 100 MW to 200 MW battery project and four of which concerned 20 MW to 100 MW sites.
Read more about this topic in the February issue of pv magazine Deutschland, due out on Feb. 10, 2025.
From pv magazine Deutschland.