Eneco further invests in flexibility on Belgian energy market
After the BESS project in Ville-sur-Haine (50 MW, 200 MWh), Eneco is announcing a collaboration on the D-STOR project. On the Duferco site in La Louviere, a BESS project is being built by BSTOR. Eneco will provide the control and market operation of this battery, thus further developing its flexibility portfolio on the Belgian market.
The D-STOR battery park will be located on the Duferco site in La Louvière. It will consist of 36 Tesla Megapacks (lithium-ion battery containers), each with a storage capacity of slightly less than 4 MWh, and of the control systems and connection infrastructure to ELIA's 150,000-volt network. High-voltage equipment and auxiliary systems will be supplied and installed by the multi-technical services company Equans.
The park will have a connection capacity of 50 MW and a storage capacity of 140 MWh. Eneco, which has signed a long-term Flexibility Purchase Agreement with D-STOR, will be responsible for using this flexible capacity across the different markets.
The purpose of D-STOR is to meet the growing needs for flexibility capacity related to the energy transition. Among others, it will help addressing "incompressibility" issues observed during periods of high renewable electricity generation. In these increasingly frequent situations, the export capacities of the Belgian electrical system are saturated, making it vulnerable to sudden and unexpected situations such as higher renewable electricity production or lower consumption than initially anticipated. To stabilize the grid and avoid a blackout (large-scale general power outage), downward regulation capacities (reduction of production or increase in consumption) must be mobilized very quickly, but this type of capacity is increasingly scarce in such situations. Battery parks offer instant regulation capacity, both upward and downward. Thanks to this additional flexibility, battery parks allow to accommodate larger shares of green electricity on the grid while significantly reducing regulation costs that are passed on to consumers’ bills.
“The optimalisation of the energy grid is key to success for the roll-out of renewable energy systems. Eneco plays a major role in in optimizing the system across various balancing and energy markets with innovative steering technology. Eneco further expands - with this cooperation - its CO2-free flexible portfolio, to balance the renewable generation and customer portfolios, enabling further integration of renewable energy.” says Bert Clinckers, managing director of Eneco Belgium.
For Eneco, it’s the largest 3rd party battery contract in Belgium so far. The project, a 50/50 joint venture between BSTOR and Duferco Wallonie, represents a total investment of over 70 million euros.
Works started last October. The commissioning of D-STOR is scheduled for the summer of 2026.
