Battery Technology
Battery technology is a key technology for the energy and mobility transition. Batteries can relieve the electricity grid if the fluctuations in the electricity supply, which have increased due to the expansion of renewable energies, are compensated for by storing surplus electricity or feeding it into the grid during dark periods. At the same time, they are a prerequisite for the electrification of the drive train of vehicles on the road, rail, water and in the air.
In a Prognos study (2022) commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), key technologies and future technological fields in eastern Germany were examined. In the process, the capital region was identified as the most important research hub for battery technologies alongside the Dresden region. The basis for identifying the current players in the field of battery technology in Berlin-Brandenburg is a study by the Brandenburg Economic Development Corporation (2023). Here, the existing and already emerging battery competences in Brandenburg and the surrounding area were analysed.
The players in the Energy Technology Cluster Berlin-Brandenburg are very committed to promoting the research and application of battery technology in the capital region.
Read more on this page about:
Participants and initiatives
In Brandenburg and Berlin, there are already a large number of players who contribute their scientific expertise to the battery ecosystem, generate added value or bring batteries into use.
What is being tested?
In recent years, some exciting projects around battery technologies have been launched in the capital region.
In the federally funded project KOMBiH - Competence Building for Battery Cell Manufacturing in the Capital Region, which started at the beginning of 2023, a project network of partners from education, research and business has set itself the goal of identifying the necessary competences for value-added processes of battery cell manufacturing in value-added cycles in order to subsequently develop relevant qualification offers for the target groups and implement them in the capital region. The energy technology and transport, mobility and logistics clusters are also part of the competence trio.
Lusatia Reference Power Plant (RefLau): In the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park, the project consortium consisting of the Zweckverband Industriepark Schwarze Pumpe, ENERTRAG SE and Energiequelle GmbH will realise a hydrogen-based storage power plant in several phases. Renewable energies will be used to produce green hydrogen and practical processes for reverse power generation will be developed. On the research side, the project is supported by a network led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Infrastructures and Geothermal Energy (IEG), BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and TU Dresden.
With the BigBattery Lausitz, LEAG has built one of Europe's largest battery storage facilities at the Schwarze Pumpe power plant and industrial site. With a usable capacity of 53 megawatt hours, the energy storage facility is designed to make electricity generation more flexible and more efficient.
What does already exist?
The largest energy storage facility in Europe when it was built, the Regional Regulating Power Plant Feldheim (RRKW), was commissioned in September 2015 by Enercon GmbH and Energiequelle GmbH in the Brandenburg town of Feldheim. The lithium-ion storage plant with a capacity of 10,700 kilowatt hours contributes to securing the grid frequency of the transmission system operator 50 Hertz. The RRKW provides primary control power for the transmission grid. This is needed to compensate for short-term fluctuations in the grid frequency. In the event of a power oversupply, the RRKW relieves the grid for a short time; in the opposite case, power is released within seconds, thus stabilising the grid. The battery bank consists of 3,360 storage modules from the Korean manufacturer LG Chem.
Contact persons
For further information, we have compiled an overview of contact persons in the capital region and beyond.
Funding and financing
Funding programmes and competitions are being initiated with increasing frequency by the EU, the federal government or the federal states to facilitate and stimulate investment in battery technologies. Current calls for proposals can always be found under News on the cluster homepage and under FoerderNews-BB. Long-term programmes and general tips can be found on the Funding & Financing subpage.
Am 14. März fand sich in der Landesvertretung Brandenburg in Berlin ein breites Fachpublikum zum 1. Batterieforum Berlin-Brandenburg zusammen. Auf dem Forum wurde die aktuelle Studie zur Wertschöpfungskette der Batterieindustrie in und um die Hauptstadtregion vorgestellt. Außerdem startete das Verbundprojekt KombiH zum Kompetenzaufbau für die Batteriezellfertigung in der Hauptstadtregion.
Brandenburg entwickelt sich zu einem Zentrum der Batterieindustrie in Deutschland. Das geht aus einer Studie im Auftrag der Wirtschaftsförderung Brandenburg (WFBB) hervor. Die Studie wurde am 14. März 2023 auf dem ersten Batterieforum der deutschen Hauptstadtregion in der Landesvertretung Brandenburg in Berlin vorgestellt.
KOMBiH macht die Hausaufgaben der Energiewende
- Jährliche Verarbeitungskapazität von 15.000 Tonnen Elektroauto-Batterien und Material, das nicht den Produktionsspezifikationen entspricht
- BASF wird Kreislauf von Altbatterien hin zu Kathodenmaterialien für neue Batterien mit einem geringeren CO2-Fußabdruck schließen
- Anlage wird nach den höchsten Umwelt-, Gesundheits- und Sicherheitsstandards gebaut