Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - With a huge battery storage system, the power grid in the southwest should be better protected against bottlenecks. The 250-megawatt system is to be integrated into the grid from 2025 and will be the largest project of its kind in the world, as the grid operator TransnetBW and the storage system manufacturer Fluence announced on Wednesday. The project is to be built in Kupferzell (Hohenlohe district). The network operator Tennet is also planning such a system in the Bavarian town of Ottenhofen (district of Erding), which, however, will be smaller with an output of 100 megawatts.

If, for example, a line fails during the transmission of wind energy from northern Germany to the south, the storage facility can provide reserve capacity within milliseconds, it said. The existing networks could also be utilized to a higher extent. And the costly start-up and shut-down of power plants can be minimized, which has a positive effect on grid fees and thus the price of electricity.

The systems known as "grid boosters" are designed as pilot projects and anchored in the grid development plan and in the Energy Industry Act. Depending on experience, further systems could follow.