Study shows great demand for battery storage

17.07.2025

Source: E & M powernews

Batteries with a capacity of around 8.7 GW should be installed by 2040 to compensate for fluctuating green electricity generation, according to a study presented by the Photovoltaic Association.

The need for battery storage to compensate for weather-related fluctuations in electricity generation, particularly from wind power and photovoltaic systems, is likely to increase fivefold in Austria to around 5.1 GW by 2030 and eightfold to 8.7 GW by 2040. This is shown by the 42-page study "Flexibility and storage requirements in the Austrian energy system", which was compiled by experts from Graz University of Technology together with the transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid (APG) and the Austrian Photovoltaic Association (PV Austria). The study was presented on July 17 by PV Austria Chairman Herbert Paierl and Sonja Wogrin, Head of the Institute of Electricity Economics at Graz University of Technology.

According to Wogrin, the study was carried out using an energy system model from APG, "which depicts reality in great detail. It is therefore technically robust". Overall, the capacity of the storage systems installed in Austria, from batteries to pumped storage power plants, should increase from the current 6.7 GW to 12.3 GW by 2030 and to 17.6 GW by 2040. According to the study, Austrian pumped storage plants are and will remain decisive for "medium-term and long-term storage", with their capacity expected to increase from the current 8.9 GW to 12.4 GW by 2040. It should be noted that plants with around 3 GW are "connected to German control zones".

According to the study, the required battery storage systems would primarily be installed in the federal states of Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Styria, where the most important industrial areas are located. Lower Austria accounted for around 28 percent of the systems, Upper Austria 19 percent and Styria 17 percent. Vorarlberg, Austria's westernmost federal state, was in last place with a share of around 2.7 percent. Around two thirds of the systems would be small storage systems with a maximum volume of 50 kWh. Around a third would be large storage systems in the industrial sector.

Investing without additional costs

Paierl put the investment costs for the installation of battery storage systems at around 5 billion euros in total between 2026 and 2030. A total of around 1.25 billion euros or 250 million euros per year would be required in subsidies. However, as the Managing Director of PV Austria, Vera Immitzer, explained to the editorial team, this would not necessarily result in additional burdens for electricity customers. Immitzer pointed out that according to the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG), a maximum of EUR 1 billion is available annually for new green electricity plants via surcharges on grid fees. Of this, 250 million euros are allocated to photovoltaics. According to Immitzer, these funds could be used for the installation of storage systems instead of new PV systems. Of course, this would require an amendment to the EAG, which is currently being planned for various reasons.

PV Austria would also like to see changes to the planned Electricity Industry Act (ElWG), Chairman Paierl told the editorial team. The planned right of grid operators to reduce the feed-in capacity of PV systems to 60 percent of the nominal capacity if necessary must be dropped. Instead, a limit of 70 percent of the nominal output should be provided for, as was originally planned.

Paierl wants stricter regulations for the distribution grid operators. In their place, the transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid should also be responsible for planning the distribution grids in future. According to Paierl, this would not involve any interference with ownership rights, and the distribution system operators would also have to manage pipeline construction themselves: "But grid planning would have to be carried out centrally by APG." A similar model already exists in the gas sector, where Austrian Gas Grid Management AG (AGGM) is responsible for overall grid planning. Supervision is the responsibility of the regulator E-Control.

Expansion in Burgenland

Meanwhile, the regional supplier Burgenland Energie has announced that it will be investing heavily in new storage facilities. By the end of next year, it plans to build several large-scale facilities with a total capacity of 500 MWh at a cost of EUR 100 million. These include Austria's largest battery storage facility to date at 340 MWh in Andau, around 70 kilometers south-east of Vienna on the border with Hungary. In August, Burgenland's first storage facility based on sodium ions with a volume of 20 kWh is to be built in Apetlon, around 20 kilometers west of Andau. Burgenland Energie offers small sodium ion storage units to households and commercial enterprises and subsidizes their installation with 59 euros.

The study is available on the PV Austria website.

Author: Klaus Fischer