PGE to invest $4.7 billion in battery storage projects
PGE, Poland’s largest power utility, aims to build 85 energy storage projects that will hike its storage capacity to over 17,000 megawatt hours and power 2.5 million households.
Polish utility PGE plans to invest about 18 billion zlotys (USD 4.7 billion) in battery storage projects, CEO Dariusz Marzec said.
With stable electricity generation from coal being replaced by intermittent renewable capacity, Poland needs to develop battery storage in order to sustain its energy transformation, according to a Reuters report.
“The total value of investment in large-scale energy storage facilities is about 6 billion zlotys,” PGE CEO Dariusz Marzec said.
The amount is for six large projects, and there are plans to invest another 12 billion zlotys in smaller plants.
PGE aims to build a total of 85 energy storage projects that will hike its storage capacity to over 17,000 megawatt hours and potentially provide energy to about 2.5 million households, the Reuters report said.
PGE, Poland’s largest power producer and supplier, has a diverse energy portfolio that includes lignite, hard coal, natural gas, wind, solar and hydropower. The company is also developing offshore wind projects and expanding its renewable energy capacity.
In January, Danish renewable energy firm Ørsted and PGE took the final investment decision (FID) on the 1.5 GW Baltica 2 Offshore Wind Farm, which is being built, owned and operated in a 50/50 partnership between the two companies. Located about 40 km off the Polish coast near Ustka, Baltica 2 is expected to be fully commissioned in 2027.
PGE, which is 60.8% state-owned, boasted a capacity of 17.8 GW and generated 57 TWh in 2023, accounting for 37% of Poland’s total electricity production for that year.
