Varta launches gigafactory for energy storage systems
With an investment of more than EUR 20 million, the company is looking to meet a strong demand that continues to grow. And Varta says that further investments are planned.
Varta AG is investing in the growth market of renewable energies, in the summer, the company's new factory for energy storage systems will go into operation. In future, up to 100,000 energy storage systems per year will be produced on a total area of more than 5000 square metres at the Neunheim site in Ellwangen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
With an average capacity of 10 kilowatt hours per energy storage system, the production output will then correspond to more than 1 gigawatt hour per year.
The company states in a press release that production at the new factory is highly automated and uses the latest Industry 4.0 technologies, including robots and laser welding processes. The technology company continues to state that it is investing more than EUR 20 million euros in the project, and further investments are planned. A total of around 120 jobs will be created at the new plant.
"Growth in the home storage market continues unabated. In the first quarter of 2023, more than 110,000 new storage units were installed in Germany. For the first half of the year, we expect almost 240,000 new installations in Germany. With the production capacities of the new Gigafactory, we can adapt well to the growing market," says Dominik Gluba, General Manager of VARTA Energy Storage.
The expansion of production will take place in two stages. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2023, Varta is targeting a production output of around 500 megawatt hours per year, which corresponds to about 50,000 storage systems. The output is then planned to be increased to one gigawatt hour by the beginning of 2025 – at the latest.
