Flood of grid battery requests requires new connection rules, says German energy industry

The deluge of grid connection requests for large-scale battery storage systems in Germany shows the urgent need for new regulations to better integrate them into the system, German utility association BDEW has said following a survey of transmission system and grid operators.

Grid connection applications for large-scale battery storage systems with a total capacity of over 720 gigawatts (GW) are currently pending – that’s more than two and a half times Germany's entire currently installed electricity generation capacity of 263 GW, including all renewable energy and conventional power plants.

Grid connections already approved for large-scale battery storage systems amount to at least 78 GW, according to the survey.

“The number of grid connection requests for large-scale battery storage systems has increased so dramatically that new regulations are needed,” said BDEW head Kerstin Andreae. “It must be ensured that other grid customers also have their rights respected.”

Grid capacity has become a scarce resource at high and medium voltage levels due to the high demands of large consumers such as data centres, large heat pumps, EV charging infrastructure, and industry, Andreae added.

“Storage technologies are an indispensable component of a modern energy system. By shifting the timing of electricity generation and supply, they can smooth load and generation peaks and are suitable for increasing efficiency and security of supply. But they must be integrated into the overall system,” Andreae explained.

The BDEW urged regulatory reforms to deal with the challenge. The lobby group called for establishing transparent grid connection procedures that take better account of the current shortage situation in the grids than the current first-come-first-served system.

At the start of 2025 grid connection requests for large-scale battery projects already amounted to 226 GW, prompting industry speculation that the country’s electricity system was facing a “battery tsunami.”