A mega battery is being built in Bemmel, in the municipality of Lingewaard, Netherlands, to provide sustainable heating and power for fourteen horticultural companies and nearby households. "Such a battery costs several million euros," says Berno Schouten, director of energy company Lingezegen Energy, in De Gelderlander (link in Dutch). "Every grower connected to us has solar panels on their greenhouse roofs. We capture that solar energy and store it in this battery, which then supplies electricity to the network."
The project is part of a larger goal to make Nextgarden, the local greenhouse cluster, completely energy self-sufficient by 2030, independent of the national power grid. The battery installation is expected to be completed by January.
The multi-million-euro investment will be entirely funded by the fourteen greenhouse companies that form part of Nextgarden. The battery will be connected to a nearby transformer substation, where electricity is converted before being safely distributed to the companies and the public grid.
Once operational, the system will store excess solar power generated during the day and make it available when demand peaks, helping local growers and residents move one step closer to a sustainable and resilient energy future.
